


Pun Pals

by TerranTheRat



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Papyrus (Undertale), Gender-Neutral Frisk, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Not sure where I'm going with this but it's going, Other, POV Second Person, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader is a Busser, Reader is sort of an ass?, Reader-Insert, Readers gender is not defined, Sans Makes Puns, Slow Burn, Swearing, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-05-19 22:20:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14882288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerranTheRat/pseuds/TerranTheRat
Summary: You're an asshole who sent a letter to no one in particular on the other side of the country because you were desperate for someone to actually talk to... It turns out a lot better than you expected if you're being honest.





	1. Co-workers and Collisions

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story that started from me being frustrated with co-workers but it turned into it's own thing with in the first chapter thanks to a pen pal idea I've had in the back of my head for a bit.
> 
> I'm still debating on whether this is going to be a sans/reader, a papyrus/reader (because Jesus Christ there aren't a lot of not female specific ones)/ or have it a quasi platonic relationship with possibly both. I'm fully up to taking this in any of those directions right now so if you want me to point it more one way or the other tell me and I'll see what the majority says.

The week had already been one of the worst you've had in ages and it just seemed to be getting worse; it was only Wednesday for fucks sake!

Monday you had somehow pissed off one of your coworkers and now she was being so passive aggressive that you wanted to scream. Tuesday someone broke the only surviving push broom in the entire cafeteria on top of you getting a few mild chemical burns from the new busboy you were training not even trying to use the right ratio of cleaner to water. And today, Wednesday, aforementioned new busboy accidently tripped you AND himself while carrying a huge stack of freshly cleaned plates, causing him and the plates to land right on top of you. You were damn lucky that those plates were designed not to brake or you’d have been dealing with stab wounds rather than a few bruised ribs and the wind being knocked out of you.

By your afternoon brake you were jonesing for a smoke, and you didn’t even smoke! Your manager had wanted you to go home after the incident with Julien, the busboy, but you were too stubborn and couldn’t afford to lose any hours anyway. God you hated how stubborn you were sometimes, it never did you any good; it either got you hurt worse than necessary or made people think you were an asshole. Fuck for all you knew you were an asshole given these people’s definition, I.E. calling them out on their bullshit and not letting them get you in trouble for them not doing their jobs right.

As you sat in the brake room you tried to heave a large sigh but were interrupted by a sharp pain in your chest, fucking bruised ribs not even letting you be annoyed properly. You did your best to be content with huffing out a smaller sigh, if it could even be called that, and pulled your phone out of your pants pocket.

No messages, like always.

Thanks to your stubbornness and your habit of pointing out bullshit, along with a few other things, most people found it hard to be around you, let alone be friends with you. You rolled your eyes at the lack of ‘decent company’ and checked the news app. You mostly just wanted to know if it’d be raining on your way home from work given the pleasantly overcast sky but a news report from a few days ago caught your eye.

_**‘A District of Monsters!?’  
** ‘Ebott city citizens in an up roar about being forced from their homes after Local government decides to section off an entire portion of Ebott city for Monster use despite heavy protest! Even though the government promises every person who has to leave their homes a new residence of the same value and compensation for moving costs, the people of Ebott aren't standing back and letting Monsters take their homes!’_

Oh yeah, monsters were a thing people were still belly aching about. You basically lived on the opposite side of the country so not much about the monsters being freed from...under a mountain was it? really had any actual effect on how you lived your life but it was sometimes entertaining to see how worked up people everywhere got over these guys, in a ‘people saying stupid shit’ kind of way. You honestly didn’t see what the big deal was yourself though, there were only a few hundred of them compared to the billions of humans and all they wanted to do was live their lives under the sky they’d been kept from. They weren’t trying to invade, they weren’t trying to ‘corrupt our culture’, and they sure as hell weren’t trying to be the focal point of so much over the top racist (monsterist?) bullshit everyone was trying to make them be; humans can be so damn over dramatic sometimes... 

You huffed out another quote unquote sigh and a went back to checking the weather. You’re relieved to see that it’s supposed to be overcast until tonight, the forecast showing rain storms after you would be settled at home and able to enjoy it properly. Unlike a lot of people you actually really liked storms; the smell of it in the air, the feel of rain on your skin, the occasional low rumble of thunder or flash of lightning depending, everything about rain storms really. Rain was simple joy in an unnecessarily over complicated world and you always felt in a better mood after watching a good storm; like the rain washed away all the bad of the previous days. With how the week was going you seriously needed the stress relief, so you hoped silently that the forecast was actually right.

Huffing one more not-quite-sigh you put your phone back into your pocket and went back to work, doing your best to avoid everyone you could afford to as you did your job. As the day was wrapping up you spot the coworker you somehow pissed off, Tiphanie, putting away dishes that weren't actually clean yet. You were very tempted to call her out but you noticed that another one of your coworkers had noticed as well but not as obviously as you, so you decide to leave it to them; they were on better terms with her than you were anyway.

You were just about finished squeegeeing the wet floor by the dish cleaning station when you spot your manager walking up to Tiphanie with one of the dirty dishes she put away in hand. You guess instead of calling her out directly the coworker had just gone to the manager. You watch for a minute as the manager chews her out before you go back to work, even though you did it all the time it was the managers actual job to enforce safe workplace habits not yours, yours was to keep things clean and tidy.

After you put away the squeegee you walk passed Tiphanie taking dishes back to the sink with annoyance plastered on her face.

“ _Fucking snitch._ ” she says to you under her breath as she passes.

Anger raises in your chest, Jesus _Fucking_ Christ she was so immature! Why couldn't people just own up to their fucking mistakes like adults and not start this snitch bullshit, you thought you left that shit behind in fucking _grade school!_ You wouldn't have minded so much about it had you actually been the one to tell the manager but you hadn't even left the kitchen since you spotted her so she was falsely accusing you of childish bullshit!

You clenched your fists and bit the insides of your cheeks, you would have taken some deep breaths had it not been for your ribs. You would never actually hit her, or anyone, but the image of it in your head was satisfying in the fact she’d keep her mouth shut for once. You reminded yourself that you got off work in only 20 more minutes and that she would be stuck re-washing dishes while you were mopping the main floor of the cafeteria. You force yourself to take a stubborn deep breath, ignoring the pain with all you had for the sake of your mental health.

Releasing the breath was the most satisfying thing you've experienced for a long time, the mixture of pain relief and the calm that washed over you making any remaining shred of anger vanish. You checked that Julien had actually swept, which he thankfully had, before going and filling the mop bucket and grabbing one of the non bathroom mops.

The 20 minutes passed without much more drama, thank fucking god, and your manager released your crew with the exception of Tiphanie who was still washing and putting away the dishes. You gathered up your things and got the fuck out of there. You didn't hate your job, if anything you actually really liked keeping things tidy, but god did you hate the people you worked with so you didn't want to stay there any longer then you had to.

You didn't live excessively far from the museum you worked at so you could have walk home if you felt like it but there was a bus stop right outside the place; the bus dropped you off just a few blocks away from your apartment complex anyway. You really just wanted to get home as soon as possible, you could smell the moisture in the air and the overcast sky was now dark with storm clouds.

The bus ride was quiet for the most part, it was late and since it was about to rain most people didn't want to be out of the house anyway. When you finally got dropped off you all but sprinted the last few blocks to your complex and bound up the several flights of stairs to your level. When you got into your apartment you took a minute to catch your breath, you could normally do that without a sweat but your bruised ribs were yet again making things harder for you.

After you were breathing properly you walked over to your living room window. You had gotten the apartment for cheap a few years ago thanks to a building being in the way of any view that might have been, but you had done your research. The building that was blocking the view had been scheduled to start demolition in the coming months and the landlord hadn’t been informed yet. All those months of noise from the demolition had been worth it because the view was breathtaking.

Before you stretched the small city and in the far distance you could see the only mountain range on this side of the country. You saw a flicker in the dark clouds and reflexively grabbed the pricy camera you kept by the window. You stuck your hand through the loop of fabric that kept if from dropping several stories if you accidentally lost your grip on it before you opened the window.

You snapped a few photos and waited to see if there would be any lightning. When you were a child you were just randomly taking a picture of your hometowns church right when the angel statue on the top was set on fire by a lightning strike. That photo had given adolescent you a good five minutes of fame thanks to the uncanny timing of it and had set fire to your already smoldering interest of photography. It had been a goal of yours since that day to take another amazing shot of a lightning strike.

You knew that wasn't as big of a thing anymore thanks to advances in camera technology, you could probably look up a tutorial on how to get the perfect shot, but you being the stubborn human you were was dead set on taking the photo your way. You had managed to catch a few strikes from that window in your time there but they were just squiggly lines of white, something you could easily have replicated on a knock off version of photoshop -a program that you refuse to use in any form due to stubborness-. You wanted a shot that couldn't be so easily replicated, like the one you got as a kid.

There were a few strikes but they were to far off to be worth trying to catch, the rest were just in the clouds themselves. After a while you set your camera back in its place on the sil and just stared out the window, letting the rain speckle you with cool droplets and the wind blow your hair around. This was still a good storm despite the lack of lightning.

You were sure you’d be in a better mood tomorrow.


	2. Neighbors and The News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news inspires you to do something kind of stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you all know just because these two chapters are posted so close together doesn't mean that I'll be posting updates this frequently. I just needed the first chapters close for context reasons the next few will definitely be spaced more then a few days apart.
> 
> The vote that was mentioned in the first chapter is still gonna be going on for a while so your input would be appreciated ^^

It had been several weeks since the last storm, 3 weeks since you had gotten a pay raise at work, and a week and a half since you had broken your leg.

You were damn lucky that it had been a faulty plate rack that hadn't been replaced that had broken your leg or you would have had to pay for the medical bills yourself. You were getting compensation from the museum until you were able to get back to work but until then you were basically trapped in your apartment. You could theoretically leave but the thought of hobbling down seven flights of stairs on crutches wasn't a pleasant one.

Unlike your coworkers your neighbors were nice enough to help you out. The middle aged biker guy next door, who was a lot nicer than he looked, offered to get groceries for you since you couldn't go to the store, and the old couple across from you had convinced you to let them use some of those groceries to make meals for you.

Normally you would have been too stubborn to accept this kind of help but you were basically helpless, and you were on some good meds for the pain that muted your normal unyielding resolve. After starting to take the meds you understood how people got addicted to them, you sure as hell weren't going to you just understood how someone could. You were definitely kind of loopy, not enough to not be functional but enough that your judgement was skewed, so you had to be very focused on not doing anything too stupid.

You were just watching TV for the time being since it wasted a lot of time efficiently and you were more easily amused thanks to a mixture of loopiness and the steadily increasing cabin fever. You had just changed the channel due to finally getting bored of the marathon of whatever show it was that you had been watching when you heard a few knocks on the door.

“Door’s open!” you call from your spot on the living-room couch, the door was just past the conjoined kitchen so you're sure who ever it was could hear you. You heard the door creak open and you could tell who it was by the sound of his footsteps before he even made it into view.

“Oh hey Uncle! What brings you here this time?” you say to the scary looking biker; his dew rag - as you had learned they were called the day prior- adorned with flaming skulls, his long but well kept grey beard, and muscular appearance that once intimidated you now a welcome sight. He had insisted on you calling him uncle because he had basically adopted it as his name since everyone called him that anyway; even after he retired from his biker group.

“ Darla n’ Stephan wanted me tuh deliver yer dinner, said it's stroganoff.” he said handing you a tupperware that you hadn't noticed him carrying, you also spotted a plastic bag in his other hand after you actually looked.

“ Tell them I said thanks k?” you said thankfully as you took the still warm container “ by the way, what's in the bag?” you asked curiously, you hadn't asked for any snacks so you wondered what was in it.

“ heh, jus sum swamp water. ‘m headin' out tuh meet up with sum of my ol’ pals n’ thought it’d be a good idea to bring my own drinks.” he explained, you knew when he said swamp water he meant cheap as shit beer, he drank the cheap stuff because he knew wouldn't over do it if he didn't like the taste of it. “ if ‘m not back by tomorrow call da cops” he said jokingly but you had a bad feeling that he was being semi-serious.

“ Got it. Try not to do anything stupid k? I may not have known you long but I wouldn't want to see you on the news, you seem like a pretty cool dude.” you said, both of you had joked about the news only showing bad shit a few days ago so he knew what you meant. He grinned and nodded as a show of his understanding.

“ Yeh won't be seein' me if I can help it. ‘nyway I best be headin’ out, hope Yeh enjoy yer dinner” he said waving at you and bowing his head in farewell, you waved back and watched as he headed back outside. You looked down at the tupperware and decided to get off your ass and eat at the table like a real person, you needed to grab a fork anyway. You grabbed the crutches you had balanced on the edge of the couch and used them to help you get up on to your one good foot before stuffing the pads into your armpits.

You did your best to carry the container but it was quite a chore to get to the table, but you still had enough stubbornness left in you to make it. After you set the stroganoff on the table you grabbed a plate and a fork before heading back to the table. You plopped yourself onto the chair you left pulled out and proceeded to dump the contents of the tupperware onto the plate and dig in.

You were so thankful to have such nice neighbors as you scarfed down the meal. It had been so long since you had a good home cooked meal before you broke your leg that even after about a week of eating decent meals you still felt like you did the first night when they had made you that fucking delicious spaghetti.

After you were done eating you hobbled your way over to the desk you had in the living room, took your evening pill, and just sat there for a while. As you sat waiting for your pill to kick in the cabin fever really started to get to you. Yeah you were getting along with your neighbors but you still couldn't tell if they were just doing all this just because they felt bad for you or if they were actually decent people. That slight bit of doubt started to nag at your mind and spiraled downward fast. By the end of the spiral you were laying your head on the desk fighting back tears.

You were so lonely.

You tried to pretend not to be because you didn't feel like you could show any kind of weakness around your coworkers but you hadn't had an actual friend since high school. Even back then you knew it was only because you wouldn't let anyone fuck with them though, not that they actually liked you as a person.

You really were an asshole weren't you? No one likes an asshole and it definitely seemed like no one liked you. Was it too late to change? Fuck could you even change? Being stubborn was a key trait of yours and you couldn't even start to think about forcing yourself stubbornly to be more of a push over, that was literally a paradox that spun itself into oblivion.

Tears started to trickle down the side of your face just before you were startled out of your thoughts by a loud announcer announcing that he was broadcasting the evening news. God damn it had you really changed it to the news earlier? The news could ruin any mood, be it good or bad.

_“ The Monsters of Ebott city have finally fully moved in to the government designated Monster district after over a month of resistance. Many locals are still protesting and, due to threats against monster kind, the local police force has been called in to keep guard of the district for the time being.”_

The monsters just barely moved in to that district thing? Didn't you see an article about the government sectioning off that part of the city a month and a half ago? Jesus Christ on a bicycle why were those guys giving these monsters such a hard time!? It seemed like everyone except the higher ups hated monsters…. Kind of like you. Everyone but your boss and your manager always got pissy around you but you somehow had deserved the pay raise more than anyone else who worked there.

Maybe you could make a friend out of a Monster if you could talk to one. You've heard that monsters were really kind and even adopted their human ambassador, who apparently had been an orphan who ran away from their foster family. How would you talk to one though? They were on the other side of the country from you and you doubt you would find any of them on normal social media due to how infamous humans on the internet were.

A memory from grade school popped in your head. You were like 10 years old and the class assignment was to write a letter to some random kid in some far off country. The teachers were very adamant about you writing a bunch about your life to your ‘pen pal’ before they'd let you turn the fucking thing in.

Pen pal… the addresses were legitimate places now so you could just look up the area the monster district covered and send a letter to a completely random monster, just like a pen pal! You grabbed a piece of fancy letter paper that looked like super old parchment from one of your desk drawers. You had bought the paper on a whim because it looked cool but it could actually be used for something now.

After grabbing a pen you started writing. You just wrote for a good while, albeit slowly, and finally you got to signing the thing. Fuck how were you going to sign the thing!? You felt weird giving your name, you hadn't mentioned it anywhere else in the letter and you weren't even sure you wanted to tell whoever would get this what your name was given the stuff you’d written in it. You sat there for a bit running some ideas through your head but not sticking to any one.

“ why should I even sign it, I'm no one special enough to care about….” you sigh to yourself as you held back another wave of tears before thinking about what you had just said.

You're no one special.

You chuckled a little to yourself, that was a great way to sign this, you would remain anonymous and still be able to actually sign it, and it'd be a constant reminder of why you wrote the letter in the first place. You quickly scribble down N.O.S. and grab an envelope from the same drawer you got the paper from, it was full of stuff you didn't use much, and carefully fold the letter before putting it in. After a quick google search of the area and what the zip code was you write it down on the envelope, designating the receiver as ‘ Whoever will open this’ before writing the return address.

You put a couple of funny stamps you had laying around on it to make it actually sendable before sealing it. You put a sticky note on it for either Uncle or the elderly couple asking them to send it, as well as to hide who you were mailing it to from whoever did end up sending it, before hobbling over to the door and stuffing it under; you were at the end of the hall so only your neighbors would notice it.

When you got back to the living room the news was talking about some flood in the midwest that messed some things up. You plopped down on the couch, changed the channel again to something more interesting, and layed down; since you broke your leg it had just been more convenient to sleep on the couch.

By the time the channel had been overtaken by infomercials you were long asleep, and Uncle had noticed the letter outside your front door.


	3. Envelopes, Empathy, and Enthusiasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A change in perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm trying to figure out how to code more then just some bold and some italics and made it my goal to a the very least have the skeletons in their proper fonts.... but I can't tell if the weird fonts I'm getting with the work skins is just because of my tablet (I work exclusively on my tablet btw. no comp) or if I'm doing something wrong qwq" so if you could tell me whether or not it works for you it'd be really helpfull!

Sans waited patiently outside Alphys and Undyne’s new place. Alphys had called him earlier and sounded nervous...well more nervous than usual, and said she wanted his opinion on something.

He could have just taken a shortcut in but that would be rude given that it wasn't just Alphys living there anymore, so he had decided to knock. He was about to knock again when the lock clicked and the door slowly creaked open, revealing Alphys in a simple blue t-shirt and shorts. Sans knew she didn't wear it all the time but it was still kind of strange to see her without her lab coat on.

“O-oh, hi sans. C-come on in.” she stuttered as she stepped out of the way to let him in. Sans strolled in casually despite the anxious curiosity that was nagging at the back of his mind. Alphys didn't call on his opinion for just anything so he couldn't help but be worried, especially so soon after monsters had finally started integrating into human society.

" so what’d ya call me in for? ‘s not common for ya tuh ask my opinion on things ‘nless it's pretty important. " he asked in his usual lazy way but a bit of the worry he was hiding tainted the undertone.

“W-well i-it’s _possibly_ pretty important. I-I just want your opinion on w-whether it's actually a-anything t-to worry about.” she said before motioning for him to follow and shuffling farther into the room.

Alphys’ house was almost identical to his and papyrus’ other then the walls were painted a soft peach instead of slate grey. The living room was connected to the kitchen -the only thing separating them being a little island- and farther back there was two bedrooms, a bathroom and a linen closet. Alphys was heading towards one of the aforementioned bedrooms.

When Alphys opened the door to the room sans quickly realized that it had been turned into a makeshift office/lab. He would have whistled but he didn't have lips so he just nodded to signify how impressed he was with the set up given the space.

" like what ya’ve done tuh the place. " he said to emphasize his approval.

“T-thanks, I-it's not as well equipped a-as my old lab b-but it does it's job.” she said heading towards the main desk in the room. Sans followed right behind and watched as Alphys dug through one of the drawers. Sans was surprised when she pulled out a plain letter and turned back to him with it clutched timidly in her claws.

“ a letter? who’s it from? ” sans asked suspicion creeping into his gaze, Alphys didn't do pranks so this must have been something serious.

“T-that's the thing, I-I don't know. I-it was delivered to one of the Froggit’s houses a-and they were to scared to open it given t-the threats humans have been m-making and passed it on t-to one of the Whimsum’s, i-it's been pa-passed between monsters for about a week now a-and no one has had t-the courage to read it.” she explained, tentatively handing the letter over to sans.

Sans examined the letter carefully, it was a slightly crinkled pure white envelope with some interesting stamps and bluish pen marks making up the writing on it. The only thing written on it was two addresses -one for somewhere close by and the other in the corner for a place sans had never heard of- and to whom it was meant to be sent to. When sans read it he had to read it another time to make sure he read it right.

“ to whoever will open this? looks like the person didn't have anyone particular to send it tuh...have ya read what's in it yet?” he asked, Alphys ducked down a little and looked to the side ashamed.

“N-no…..a-as far as I’ve gotten w-with being braver I-I’m still... very cowardly….” she admitted sadly, sans expression softened and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“ 's fine al, if ya weren't timid ya wouldn't be you.Sans cautiously turned the letter over and ran a phalange under the lip of the envelope to open it. Sans took a ‘breath’ before he pulled out the paper inside. He was actually kind of impressed by the parchment textured paper, it was an interesting choice and as long as this wasn't a hate letter he had to give the person credit for using fancy paper. The letter was written in the same bluish pen that had written on the envelope in the same slightly sloppy but still legible handwriting.

_ 'Dear whoever reads this,’ _

_'I know it's probably strange getting a letter from someone you don't know on the opposite side of the country but please hear me out before you just throw this away.’_  
_'I’m a busser at the art and history museum where I live. Everyone I work with seems to hate me other then my bosses, who tolerate me, and my neighbors are probably only being nice to me right now because of my broken leg.’_  
_'I don't have any friends and I’m going to be trapped in my 7th floor apartment (that doesn't have an elevator by the way) for another two months at the least until my leg heals, so I'm a little desperate for someone to talk to.’_  
_' I've heard some amazing things about monsters and can relate to only really higher ups not out right hating me and since I am desperate I thought I'd try to reach out.’_ _‘You don't have to write back if you don't want to but it'd be really nice to have a pen pal right now so please think about?'_

_ ‘Sincerely, N.O.S.’ _

Sans blinked a few times in confusion before his brow bones knit and he looked away, trying to process the contents of the letter.

“W-what does it say?” Alphys asked curiously.

“ it's.….just a normal letter looks like. they said they’re stuck in their apartment cause of a broken leg and that they don't got any friends to talk tuh…’m honestly a bit skeptical, with how much humans seem tuh dislike us this might be some kinda ruse.they didn't even sign with their name I don't think, ‘nless n.o.s. is their initials or sumthin.”

“ N.O.S.? I-I wonder what it s-st-stands for, be it n-name or alias. B-but it's really just a n-normal letter? No th-threats at all?” she asked, leaning forward a little to see if she could get a glimpse of what was written.

“ nope, none at all… seemed to have a complement in it actually…” he said skeptically before handing the letter over to Alphys for her to read. She took the letter timidly but focused in quickly on what was written. When she was done reading she mirrored sans’ reaction before rereading it a time or two more.

“o-oh wow...T-this isn't even close to w-what I was expecting.b-but you're right, I d-don't think a human would actually write a-and send this unless it was a trick. I’ll look into it when I have s-some time to sp-”

“ no need to waste your time alph” sans interrupts while waving his hand dismissively, “  ya don't have a lot’a time on yur claws anyway, i can take this one, ‘s just a letter.”

Sans didn’t normally take on jobs that Alphys could do but this wasn’t her usual kind of work. Sans also knew Alphys had been swamped with monsters coming to her to explain human things after the district was fully inhabited. Since Frisk, along with Toriel and Asgore, were hard at work with the human government figuring out how monsters and humans were going to coexist, Alphys became the 4th most in the know about humans and was more easily approachable then the other three. Everyone who knew Alphys well now knew she had been on the edge before the barrier broke, and sans didn't want to put any unnecessary stress on her so soon after; that's why he’d agreed to come in the first place.

“ Y-you're wanting t-to take care of-of this? A-are you okay s-sans? tha-that's p-pretty unlike you.” she said surprised, her nervous stutter getting worse as well.

“ yeah, ‘m fine alph. the reason i want’tuh take care of this is cuz I wanna make sure yer okay.” he said, his expression softening again while he gave her a knowing look. She opened and closed her mouth a few time in a wordless attempt at protest but ended up merely letting out an understanding sigh.

“T-thank you sans. T-try not to worry a-about me to much though. I'm in a much better place now.” she said glancing towards the wall that separated the lab from her and Undyne’s conjoined room with a genuine smile, the lack of stutter in last sentence making the words ring more true. “ Well if y-you're taking care of it I-I’d recommend g-getting on it. W-who knows how long ago t-that letter was actually sent.”

Sans nodded, gave her a thumbs up, said his goodbyes, and took a shortcut back to his own room. Sans spent the next hour researching how the human postal service worked and then looking up the area where the letter was sent from.

 _Everything_ checked out.

The return address given on the letter was for an actual apartment complex that had a 7th floor and didn't have an elevator. After searching up what a busser was (which had nothing to do with buses, they just wash dishes and clean up after people at food joints) he looked up the art and history museum and everything check out there as well. It had a cafeteria for customers and staff to eat at during the day and there were some complaints by workers there that one of their co-workers was a real asshole; everyone hating the sender checked off. There was even a recent report of a worker there breaking their leg due to faulty equipment and getting compensated for it.

In a desperate attempt to find something off sans even looked up how long a broken human leg takes to heal. After cringing at x-rays of broken bones he was given a similar enough answer that he had to check that one off as well. Unless someone had planned this out for months on the other side of the country there was no way this wasn't a genuine letter from a desperately lonely human, and all the research ended up making sans feel pretty sorry for them.

Sans read the letter one last time before sighing. This person was basically living the human equivalent of being stuck in the underground but with even less space and nothing to make them hopeful of rescue. Sans had been in a pretty dark place before the kid decided to leave the barrier unbroken but he had Papyrus to help him through it, he didn't even want to imagine not having anyone during his time in underground.

Sans took a deep ‘breath’ and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. If this human was desperate enough to ask a monster to talk to them then sans couldn't bring himself to just forget about them. He wrote for a while and was almost done when papyrus barged in.

“ **_YOU LAZY BONES STOP NAPPING AND-!_** OH, YOU ARE ACTUALLY AWAKE? ” Papyrus said, cutting his normal rant short upon seeing sans sitting at the desk that had been in his room when the two of them first got there. Papyrus walked over to the desk and leaned over sans to get a look at what he was doing. “  WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU ARE OUTSIDE OF YOUR NORMAL NAP CYCLE. IT MUST BE IMPORTANT.”

“ 's not as important as i originally thought but ‘m almost done with it now anyway.” sans said tipping his head back to look up at his brother. Papyrus looked over what sans had written on the paper briefly, glanced over to the parchment textured piece of paper, and gasped.

“ SANS THIS IS A LETTER!” Papyrus exclaimed as he scooped up the parchment to read it and gasped again “ THIS POOR HUMAN! THEY DON'T HAVE _ANY_ FRIENDS?! THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE! SANS SINCE YOU HAVE ALREADY WRITTEN A LETTER IN RESPONSE YOU SHOULD SIGN IT FROM BOTH OF US! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS NOS HUMAN NOT HAVING FRIENDS! SO I SHALL BECOME ONE! ” Papyrus declared as he held the letter up dramatically, pronouncing N.O.S. as if it were the mystery humans name. Sans smiled, this human was lucky that he took over this job for Alphys, now they'd have paps as a pen pal as well.

“ Ok bro, but be careful with yer twin there, don't wanna crinkle it.” he said to Papyrus with the grin he usually put on when he made a joke. Papyrus stared at his brother confused for a moment before realizing the correlation between papyrus and parchment.

“ SAAAANS!!!! THIS IS _NO_ TIME FOR SUCH TOM FOOLERY! THERE IS A LONELY HUMAN OUT THERE THAT DOES NOT KNOW THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS DECLARED MYSELF THEIR FRIEND! ” Papyrus said exasperated but carefully put the letter back down on the desk. Sans gave an amused chuckle before looking back at the letter he had wrote, if N.O.S. was actually their initials it’d only be fitting for him to write both him and Paps’ in response, so he scrawled out S.A.P.S -for sans and Papyrus skeleton-.

“ I BELIEVE THAT MEANS YOU ARE DONE WITH THE LETTER NOW SO I SHALL TAKE IT AND GO FIND AN ENVELOPE!” Papyrus said very quickly, snatching up sans’ letter before he rushed off.

Sans later found the monster formatted envelope in the mailbox and reformatted it to human postal standards, so it would actually reach NOS, but made sure to keep all of papyrus’s little doodles.


	4. Isolation and Interveiws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You gain a new respect for monsters.

It had been almost a month since Uncle had sent your letter.

The day after you wrote the letter you were more with it and you had realized what you had done, you let your guard down and did something stupid. For days after you reprimanded yourself for sending a letter you wrote when you were essentially high to a race of creatures that didn't need anymore bullshit from humans...but you couldn't lie to yourself about hoping someone would reply.

That little bit of hope helped you get through your isolation when Uncle wasn't able to come over. The thought that some monster might take the time to read and then reply to your letter made you feel like someone actually might care about you out there. You weren't sure how long a letter took to send, or how long the monster would take to reply if they did, but after a month of no reply you had started to slip back into your late nights of loneliness.

Tonight was one of those nights.

You were sure Stephen and Darla had been asleep for at least an hour now and Uncle had gone out with his old pals, who -he had informed you- had not tried to murder him for retiring and had actually decided to do the same. You had run out of shows to enjoy days ago so you had just been laying on the couch listening to Youtube music videos through your computers only kind of decent speakers for the last hour and a half. You hopped over to the computer -you had gotten pretty good at going around your apartment on one foot- to change it from a cringe inducing song from your youth when you heard knocking on the door.

You turned off the music to make sure you weren't hearing things and heard the knocks again. You carefully hopped over to the front door and cracked it, leaving the chain lock hooked. You held back the urge to roll your eyes when you saw your landlord.

“ What do you want this time? If it's about the apartment I’m still not leaving.” you stated, more annoyed than you showed. He had been trying to get you out of your place ever since the building was demolished because your contract was cheaper than anyone else on your side of the hallway.

“Not this time, I’m not cruel enough to kick out a cripple. Your neighbor politely asked me to bring any mail sent to your apartment to you directly since he’s not legally allowed into your mailbox.” He explained as he slipped a decent stack of mail through the gap in the door. You grabbed it and could easily assume this was all the mail from the last month.

“ I guess you were to busy to bring all of this up sooner?” you asked holding back your sarcasm the best you could. He may have said he’s not cruel enough to kick out a cripple but he definitely seemed to be trying to sabotage you by holding your bills hostage; you were glad your workmans comp went directly to your bank.

“Yeah, my apologies.” he said, sounding sincere but the tiny smirk on his face giving him away. “ well I’ll see you next time I have some mail for ya, have a good night.”

You closed the door, not bothering to return the farewell, and bounced back over to the couch with the handful of envelopes. You started going through the stack by identifying the bill or piece of junk mail and then chucking it behind you into the kitchen; you weren't in the mood for bills so your future self could deal with them.

“Power, water, cable, internet, insurance, NOS, water agai-” you almost chuck the letter over the couch but manage to catch it before it was to far away from you. You held it tightly in your hands and stared at the doodle covered envelope in disbelief.

“ To NOS….” you read out loud to yourself. You double check the address to confirm it’s really yours before examining the doodles on the envelope; they were really well done.

There was a plate of spaghetti with a bay leaf garnish by the return address, a basket ball wearing sunglasses and a backward facing baseball cap - which you find ironic- in the opposite corner of the envelope to the spaghetti, a drawing of a cool looking convertible under the address, and bone shaped lettering spelling out ‘cool dude’ on the entire side the letter was sealed on. You're going to have to keep the envelope, it's too interesting looking to possibly throw away.

You started to carefully open the letter so you didn't rip through the lettering but the anxiety tickling the back of your mind stopped you. You had almost lost hope in ever getting a reply but at the same time you hadn't legitimately expected one in the first place. You had thought you were fooling yourself thinking you might get a reply but here it was, a reply to a mistake that you didn't expected to come back to you.

Wait what are you even stalling for? Yeah you considered the entire thing a mistake but who ever had replied to you had taken the time out of their lives to humor your desperate letter and took even more time to decorate the envelope. You were irritated with the now fleeting anxiety making you even think about not owning up to your mistakes and the resolve that had been dampened for the past month and a half by your pain meds flared up to it's previous fervor.

You opened the letter, still careful not to rip it but with no hesitation other wise. You took your first glance at the letter and if you had been drinking something you would have done a spit take, both from surprise and hilarity.

The _entire_ thing was in fucking _Comic sans!_

_ ‘dear n.o.s.,  _

_ ‘it was a real surprise getting your letter. you gave several monsters quite the scare actually thanks to you sending it so soon after the police got called in to guard the monster district. After reading through it myself though your ‘intimidating letter’ proved to be nothing for any of them to have worried about, heh.’ _

_ ‘i’m sorry you can't leave your apartment. must be worse than being stuck under a mountain since you don't have much space and you don't have any pals to help you through it. i don't even want to think of how i’d be if i were stuck alone in a small enclosed space for that long.’ _

_ ‘pardon me for being cautious but i did look up the area you're from and you really have quite the reputation at that museum. if you haven't seen yet your coworkers have quite a list of complaints about a certain employee who broke their leg at work. i don't know what kind of sense of humor you have but i personally thought all of their bellyaching was pretty entertaining to read.’ _

_ ‘i also had to look up what a busser was if i’m being honest. i was actually disappointed that it had nothing to do with buses, i had a list of bus jokes i was planning on using but guess i’ll have to figure out something else to joke about. i could make some ‘break a leg’ jokes but you've probably got those covered.’ _

_ ‘you mentioned you've heard some good things about us monsters in your letter and i’m curious if we’re shown in a different light over there. humans here certainly like to make us the bad guys despite us not really doing anything. that's why the police had to be called in by the way if you didn't know, a bunch of humans made some pretty nasty threats against us that i’d rather not elaborate on.' _

_ ‘we had mail in the underground but i personally didn't send many letters myself so sorry if this is kinda all over the place. i hope you don't mind the lack of letter experience in your new pen pal, heh. speaking of which, i don't have to much of an idea on what pen pals even do, do they just send each other letters and stuff? That's probably something to explain in your reply.’ _

_ ‘Sincerely, s.a.p.s.’ _

After reading over the letter you realized that it had actually been handwritten, had they spent the time to copy the font or was that their actual handwriting? You didn't know but it was a side thought to all of the things rushing through your head anyway.

Someone had actually replied, and that someone definitely seemed to be a monster. They also had taken the time to write a decent sized letter in reply. You read it over again and so many emotions that you hadn't felt in a while bubble to the surface.

You felt bad about scaring some monsters with your letter and the fact that the monster had said your situation was worse than their own previous one made you concerned for yourself. You were curious about the complaints that your coworkers had left about you on the internet. You grinned at the fact they had to look up what a busser was and the joke about the broken leg made you chuckle. You also got annoyed about humans threatening a being who was kind enough to answer your desperate plea for someone to talk to.

You make a note to explain pen pals to them and smile; after so long you had someone to really talk to. You didn't know much about them yet but even after reading the crap from your co-workers they had still decided to send you a letter back; they had given you a chance to prove your worth yourself.

Something deep inside your _SOUL_ flared up like the embers of a fire catching the breeze.

You had a chance to show someone that you weren’t just an ass with no hope of redemption. You had the chance to have someone know you as something more than just the prick from work or the hard worker no one likes. This was your chance to have a real friend, not just someone who treated you like a bodyguard but an actual caring friend that you could worry about and that could worry about you.

Your mind began to race again with thoughts of friendship but you forced yourself to calm down; you were getting ahead of yourself. This was only one letter, you couldn't assume just because they're writing to you that they were even close to a friend yet; you didn't even know each others names for fuck’s sake. You couldn't just jump into being all buddy buddy with someone you knew literally nothing about. You had to slow down and get to know this monster and have them get to know you. If you jumped straight into paldom you might scare them off and you couldn't afford that given this might be your only shot.

You took a deep breath to help calm yourself and set the letter aside. You'd come back to it after you regained some proper sense since your evening pill was still well in your system. You went back to sorting through your bills and junk mail in the same fashion as before but subconsciously paying more attention to what was on the envelopes. After you could sense a decent pile of bills and ‘coupons’ behind you you decided to turn on the TV.

It was the news again but it caught your attention quickly enough that you didn't change it. On the screen was the monster ambassador sitting between two extremely large-in-comparison goat like monsters on a live interview.

“ _Here with us today is none other then the youthful ambassador for monster kind, Frisk, and the king and queen of monsters, Asgore and Toriel Dreemurr!_ ” the well dressed, businessman esque, interviewer said introducing them, and you had to stifle a laugh at the three guest’s reactions. Frisk was holding back a laugh of their own as Toriel gave the interviewer a look that all but screamed ‘the fuck did you just say?’ and Asgore was visibly on the edge of panicking. After they regained their composure Frisk moved their hands in a manner you recognized as sign language and the interviewer's eyes widened at the realization of whatever mistake he had made.

“ _Oh, I am so sorry! Let me rephrase! Today we have the monster ambassador, Frisk. Their adoptive mother and **former** queen of monsters, Toriel; and the **current** king of monsters Asgore Dreemurr!_ ” you burst out laughing; the dude had accidentally called Toriel by her ex-husbands last name! Talk about hitting a sore spot. Toriel took a deep breath and returned to the calm that she started with but Asgore stayed fairly anxious looking although he put on the best smile he could.

You watched the interview intently. The three were asked many questions about topics ranging from the police guarding the monster district to life in the underground to what they liked to do in their spare time. Toriel and Asgore did all of the actual talking given that Frisk didn't seem to speak but a majority of the questions were answered by the kid. You honestly felt like you were missing out on some funny answers though because the two monsters translating for the audience sometimes forgot that not everyone there could understand Frisks hand movements and just laughed at their answers; maybe you should learn sign language.

“ _This may seem like an odd question but why do monsters call the underground the underground? It's accurate and all but I would have thought that after all that time you'd have an actual name for the place you were._ ” The interviewer asked and Asgore let out a low chuckle, nervously scratching his golden beard. Toriel rolled her eyes knowingly with the slightest smile on her face.

“ _Well, about that... The Underground is sincerely the best I could come up with. As king my subjects put the responsibility of naming the areas of our new dwelling on me, but I am not the best with names. I’m sure Toriel will still make fun of me for naming our son a cross of our names if given-_ ” Asgore’s silky bass voice cut off and his jaw dropped a small bit as regret visibly set in. Toriel just stared at him in shock -no anger or anything, just pure shock-. Frisk lifted their hands to sign something while shaking their head but were cut off by the interviewer, who obviously didn't notice the sudden change in mood.

“ _The two of you have a son? So Frisk has a brother then! What is he like? Since the two of you are separated it must be hard on him._ ” Toriel flinched at the mans words and looked to the side, a mixture of anger, sadness, and a few other things showing through the now thin veneer of calm. Asgore hung his head with guilt plastered on his face as Frisk looked between the two seemingly trying to judge who to comfort first.

“ I swear to god if the dude doesn't pick up on this…” you said to yourself as you leaned forward anxiously. The first mistake he made was an understandable one but this was way to obviously a touchy subject for him to push. There was a strained pause amongst the three, no one seeming to want to speak up. After the pause packed on plenty of tension Toriel straightened up to near perfect posture and stared the interviewer down the entire time she spoke, her gaze and tone hardened like someone who's explained painful things many times before.

“ _Yes, we had a son…. but some unfortunate events occurred that lead him to no longer be of this world. The events happened a very long time ago, longer than any human life would be able to encompass, but losing a child is something that one cannot truly recover from no matter the time that has passed. Before you ask Asgore and I separated not long after the loss of our son. At that time Asgore and I, amidst our grief, disagreed heavily on how the events should have been handled and we parted ways. We have only recently met each other again._ ”

You stared at the screen wide eyed with awe. At the beginning of the interview Toriel had been lively and very much motherly but the way she spoke and held herself while explaining the death of her son showed a completely different side of her, the part that radiated wisdom and invoked respect; the part that was still very much a Queen. Normally the presence of a queen in TV show dampened once you know more about them but somehow knowing what you had learned from the interview just amplified Toriel’s.

Asgore had straightened up as well during Toriel’s explanation, emanating more of a kingly vibe himself as he nodded in agreement. He had a sad look in his eyes that made the once joyous smile he wore turn into one of regret. Even the remorseful looking Frisk looked so well put together for a kid in their situation, like a little heir. All three of them were suddenly...a lot more intimidating, and that was just through the TV; you couldn't imagine what being there in person must have felt like.

Frisk raised their hands and very definitively signed something. The interviewer, who had obviously rethought his questions, nodded his understanding of whatever it was they had signed and checked his watch before glancing at something out of shot.

“ _Well folks we only have time for a few more questions so let's start wrapping things up!_ ” the interviewer stated with faux enthusiasm. The rest of the interview was very low risk questions and the royal vibe from the trio died down enough that they were back to laughing and joking around; but the feeling still lingered.

You doubted other monsters could so easily become that imposing but you now had a greater respect for the two goats, as well as the young ambassador.


	5. Boredom and Buddhas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn some new things.

A day or two after you received the reply to your first letter you felt down to earth enough to write a proper reply and had sent it off a few days before.

It hadn't been a long time but you were anxious for another reply. So much so that you had to restrain yourself from asking Uncle if he could get your mail from the landlord _every time_ he came over. It was dumb to think the letter would have gotten to the other side of the country, a reply be written and sent, and it already be here after merely a handful of days, but you couldn't help it.

You hopped over to your computer from the couch and turned it on. You really needed a distraction or else you might go crazy from anticipation as well as everything else. You checked through your history and bookmarks for something to do and spot a search on what to do when you have a broken leg that you had abandoned. You roll your eyes but begrudgingly click it and look through the results, quickly spotting a blog post titled ‘7 fun things to do while in crutches’; you sighed and opened up the post.

“ok so number one, binge watching shows. Heh, already done as much of that as I can handle… two, play board games? With who? Well maybe Uncle or Mister and Misses Ramirez...but I don’t have any board games anyway...Three. Sort through old photos and make scrapbooks for your family and friends...” you did have a lot of photos you'd taken laying around, but you couldn't help but scoff at the lack thereof either friends or family to sort through them for. Well for the most part lack thereof. You did still have family you guessed, but after you moved away from your hometown you grew pretty distant from your family, even your parents. Fuck for all you knew your folks might not even live in the same town anymore, or they could even possibly be-.

You shot down the thought that your parents might be dead before it could get anywhere; if something had happened to them you would have definitely been called about it. Being one of the most reliable of your kin -although that didn't mean to much given your family’s history- automatically made you by default the first person they would have called.

To further debunk the thought your parents weren't even that old! They were only a couple of decades from their own birth when they had you and other then a couple _particularly_ bad habits they were decently healthy people. You remember one day when you were younger where your mom spent nearly an hour lecturing you about not getting enough protein or some-

‘ _WHOA! Hold it! Now is NOT the time for nostalgic flashbacks!_ ’ you again halted your train of thought.

Dwelling in the past would just make you feel worse about your current situation. You were already grasping at hopeful straws to keep yourself from spiraling down into a deep dark ditch of despair. You take a deep breath and shake away the threatening tendrils of solitude from your mind before focusing back on the list from the blog post.

“Hold a cast decorating party? The fuck? Go out with friends?! Jesus Christ is there anything else a friendless heathen can do on this list?!” you were getting frustrated, of course other people with broken legs had people to hang out with but even they couldn't be with their pals all the time. You took a forced deep breath and were more pleased with the last two options on the list.

“Colouring…? Says it’s a stress reliever, huh….well I definitely could lose some….and lastly, learn something new, like a language.” when reading the last thing on the list you think back to the night you had watched the interview with the royal trio -even though it wasn't accurate it’s just what you ended up calling the triad of Toriel, Frisk, and Asgore- and remember wanting to learn sign language because you were missing out some of Frisk’s jokes.

After watching that interview you had kept a closer eye on the news to see if you could catch more about the trio or other monster happenings and you had been getting progressively more frustrated by not understanding Frisk’s sign language. Maybe learning to sign was the perfect thing to do with all this free time. Even though it was mainly for understanding the little emissary it was a good skill to have anyway, especially working at a fairly well trafficked museum. If you could help deaf or mute customers you would be a great asset to have and might be able to get yet another pay raise, or better yet a promotion!

You smiled at the thought of a higher income. You didn't have a lot to spend your paychecks on but the few things you did you had to save a couple paychecks for. This pen pal thing would also add an extra expense as well given that you only had about 4 more envelopes buried in your misc drawer, 5 more ridiculous stamps, and you found out you only had one working pen left in your entire place. To top it all off if you had a higher income you couldn't get kicked out of your apartment because you could just alter your contract without risking starvation.

“ New language it is then! Sign language videos here I come!” you exclaimed excitedly but not too loudly. You spent the next few hours looking up sign language videos and guides and are actually pretty surprised at how complicated it actually is. It was definitely not all just hand movements like you had originally thought.

In certain situations just having your eyebrows up or down could change the meaning of what you were trying to say, and there aren’t even some words in sign language. There were literally no state of being words - am, is, are, was, were- or articles - a, an, the - and expressing the word ‘don’t’ depends mainly on the context of the sentence because the actual sign only really works by itself or for emphasis. Learning this was going to be more of a pain than you expected, but you literally had nothing more productive to do so you planned to keep at it.

You were in the middle of doing some research about sign names when you heard a few knocks at your door. After over a month of him coming over regularly after he got home you had pretty much memorized Uncle's knock. You also knew he didn't think you hopping around your apartment on one leg was a good idea. You begrudgingly bounce over to your crutches and hobble your way over to the door, the crutches seeming more embarrassing than the pretend game of hopscotch you had grown accustomed to.

You heard another few knocks just before you opened the door and aren’t surprised to see Uncle in his usual outfit other then a different do-rag, this one was black with white tribal markings.

“ Hey Uncle. Did you get a new do-rag?” you asked, pivoting out of the way to make room for him to walk past. You were a bit surprised when he didn't move.

“ Kinda. One o’ my pals gave me his ol’ one since he don’t wear ‘um no more.” he said with a smile that you normally would have been happy to see, but the fact that he was just standing there made you think something was wrong. Your mind instantly jumped to the conclusion of him not wanting to talk to you anymore because even he thought you were a prick now, even though it was obviously not a logical conclusion.

“ I know what yer probably thinkin' and you can knock that train’o thought right off it’s tracks before it gets anywhere.” he said sternly but caring, and you instantly let the thought pitter away into nothingness. “ ‘m not comin’ in cause I realized the other night that even after talkin' to each other for ‘bout a month an a half straight ya still haven't even peeked intuh my place. So ‘m officially invitin' ya over.”

Your eyes widened and you just stared at him for a bit. He was inviting you over to his apartment? Like he actually wanted you to go inside his house? Uncle was clearly amused by your dumbfoundedness and chuckled but at that you cleared your throat awkwardly, realizing how you must have looked gawking like that.

“ You're seriously asking me over? But why?” you asked trying to keep the suspicion out of your voice. You knew Uncle pretty well at this point so you felt that you could trust him, but you hadn't been invited anywhere in a very long time and that last time didn't end well; making you more wary then probably necessary.

“ Cuz ’m sure yer damn stir crazy from bein’ in the same place fer so long! My place ain't much different from yers but it's sumthin and ya really need tuh get outta this house.” he said matter of factly and you really couldn't argue with it. The mere thought of getting out of your apartment for the past month had felt unrealistic and now that you were actually thinking about it that could not be healthy.

“ Oh fuck yeah I’m stir crazy! If that's your reason it's a good enough one for me! Let me just grab my key.” you said as you prodded your way back into your apartment. You quickly grabbed your house key from its place of long lasting slumber and shoved it into the pocket of the sweatpants you were wearing before returning to the door as fast as your crutches would let you. “ok lead the way!”

Uncle shook his head smiling before walking the few feet to his front door. As you crossed the threshold of your doorway a strange relief flowed over you, like the feeling after a nice stretch, and when you pivoted around to lock your door you couldn't help but grin a little. You were out of that fucking place after so long, you hadn't even realized how badly you wanted to leave until just then. When your leg actually fully healed you probably wouldn't stay inside nearly as much as you had before.

You pivoted towards Uncle to see that he wasn't there and his door was open. You blinked a time or two in surprise before taking a few ‘steps’ and are relieved to see him holding the door open for you from inside his doorway. You nodded your thanks as you made your way into his apartment and were stunned by what you saw.

His apartment was tidy for the most part -not quite as clean as your place, but then again you had high standards of cleanliness- and it had a nice smell despite you not being able to put your finger on the scent; that wasn't what had stunned you though. Just in the entryway there were shelves upon shelves of well organized knick-knacks from all across the country, and a few were even from places you recognized to be in completely different parts of the world. If you didn't know better you would have assumed he had a little something from everywhere.

“ There are so many….” you said in awe, more to yourself then anything but loud enough for Uncle to have heard.

“ When ye travel a lot ye tend tuh gather Souvenirs. Sum o’ these ain't from places I’ve been though, had a richer traveler buddy give ‘um tuh me cuz he thought I'd like ‘um” he explained, shrugging dismissively.

You followed Uncle past his kitchen and into his living room which had even more shelves, but these ones weren't filled with just knick-knacks but little pieces of art and sculpture as well. You notice the same person in several of the small sculptures but it takes you a minute to realize that they were all Buddha’s; not the fat Chinese Buddha but the skinny one. You then noticed there were bits of incense all around the living room but none of them were lit, though some seemed to have already been half burned; those must have been the source of the nice smell of the place.

“ Paintings? Incense? Buddha statues? I don't know what I was expecting to see in your place but this certainly wasn't it.” you said pleasantly surprised, even after a month and a half of knowing him you still didn't know to much about Uncle. He was a good guy he just didn't talk about himself to much.

“ Expected more skulls n’ motorcycles? Don't blame ye.” he said chuckling. He walked over to one of the larger Buddha statues that sat above his TV -the Buddha was sitting inside a lotus flower, it looked to be made of bronze- and picked up a little cone shaped thing as well as a BBQ lighter. He looked at you and lifted the little cone as if saying ‘do you mind?’. Due to him picking up the lighter you assumed it was just a weird kind of incense and motioned him to go ahead.

He nodded, set the little cone in front of the Buddha, and lit it. After he was sure it was smoking -the room quickly filling with the smell of burning pine- he motioned for you to sit on the couch that was against the opposite wall to the TV. You were more than happy to oblige and quickly plopped onto the softer than you expected sofa, putting your crutches aside.

“So what is up with all the Buddha's?” you asked as Uncle walked over to the kitchen. He shrugged as he opened the fridge and grabbed out a couple of apples.

“‘m not quite Buddhist if that’s what yer askin’, but I definitely agree with o’ lot of it.” he said as he walked back over to the couch and sat down on the other end from you, offering you one of the apples. You nodded your thanks and took the apple as Uncle continued. “‘m quite the fan of the whole gettin’ rid o’ greed, anger, an ignorance thing. N’ it's jus common sense tuh be nice to people an other creatures, though if common sense were so common more people’d have it.”

You chuckled along with him about the irony of common sense before taking a few bites of the apple he had given you and getting more comfortably situated on the couch. Uncle leaned back and grabbed one of the few blankets that were hung over the back of the couch to drape over himself.

“ I really do wish more people had common sense… it’d save a lot o’ people a lot o’ trouble, like you actually.” he said grabbing the remote to his TV from the side table and setting it in his lap. You raised an eyebrow and hummed a slightly confused, slightly miffed response; was he saying you didn't have common sense?

“Shoot didn't mean for it tuh sound like I meant you, my bad. I jus meant like… ‘f yer colleagues had more sense they wouldn't be such jackasses towards yeh. Yer barefaced and can be blunter than a bat sometimes but that's all cuz yeh got principle yeh know? Yeh got yer standards an won't let sum jerk-offs lower ‘um. If they had the sense tuh realize that then they’d see how amazin’ a quality that is tuh have.” he said fiddling with the apple he had in his hand.

Oh _shit_ , that was a compliment!

You were _not_ use to compliments! The most you'd ever really gotten is a total stranger saying they liked your shirt or something equally mundane and appearance based. Even your own family hadn't told you much more than basically ‘good job on having a life’, so getting a compliment on how you were as a person was a completely foreign experience. You wracked your mind for any example of how to react to a legitimate compliment as you felt your cheeks start to tingle with blood flow; oh dear fucking god you were blushing.

“O-oh, uh-... Th-thanks I guess?” you said fumbling out the words. Uncle chuckled heartily at your embarrassment and gave you a friendly smack on the shoulder.

“ Didn't mean tuh get ye all flustered pal! Forgot ye don't get too much praise for being yerself ‘round here.” he said with a grin before he grabbed the remote from his lap and turned on the TV. “how ‘bout we watch a movie? I got a few movies in the player right now so ye can pick from those if ye want.”

He pressed a few buttons on the remote to arrive at a selection screen that had 6 movie up on display before handing the remote over to you. You were intrigued by how the player had 6 discs in it but you didn't question it to much, technology has done more complicated things then make it possible to play 6 different discs on a DVD player. As you looked through the 6 movies you realized something else, they were surprisingly nerdy.

There was Men In Black, Hellboy, The Dark Knight, The first Star Wars movie, Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the rings, and Underworld. You chuckled quietly to yourself as you were again pleasantly surprised by how unlike his appearance Uncle was. Uncle quirks an eyebrow at you and you just shrug with a grin before picking Men In Black, it had been a while since you’d seen it.

The two of you just sat there and enjoyed the movie, laughing at Will Smith's antics during his test and feeling sorry for the tiny alien that was murdered. It was about half way through the movie that you began to doze off, the smell of the incense Uncle had burned and the movie bringing back calm and relaxing memories. By the end of the movie you were fast asleep on the soft couch.

Uncle was tempted to wake you because it had gotten late but decided to just let you sleep. He moved your crutches out of the way and carefully covered you in one of the other blankets from the back of the couch.

That night you dreamed of the camping trips you went on with your family and slept better then you had in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOO! I have the key plot bits thought out for this fic but there is still a lot of open space between said key bits! 
> 
> If you guys have any idea's on things you want to see happen {be it topics in the letters that you want brought up, mini adventures you want reader to go on once their leg is healed, or possibly just cute fluffy things that you might want reader to blush at ewe} please just leave a comment!~


	6. Bad dreams and Bathtubs (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Papyrus' turn in the spot light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be honest, I don't like this chapter. I feel like this part is a bad first portrayal the Papyrus and that even though there are points I wanted to bring up I feel I should have brought them up later. I might just need more practice writing Paps but I feel like he's not quite in character for this part...his characterization gets better in the next part but it's still a little off... I might co.e back later and revamp this chapter but for now I'm just gonna roll with it *shrugs*

In the week after he had sent the letter Papyrus waited diligently for a reply. He checked the mailbox every day in the morning and in the evening for any sign of a letter from the lonely human. Sans had explained to him that the human mailing system would take a few days for the letter just to get to Nos but Papyrus was too excited at the thought of having a new human friend not to keep checking.

Papyrus adored Frisk but they were really busy helping monsters and humans get along so they didn't have much time to visit. If he could he would have gone and made some more human friends himself but due to the threats monsters weren't allowed to leave the district for their own safety, with the exception of Toriel and Asgore of course. Papyrus had tried making friends with the humans that were protecting the district but they were much too busy with their guard duties to talk to him so he had decided to try again after things had calmed down more.

Frisk was working hard but until humans and monsters got on better terms the Nos human was the only chance Papyrus had to make another human friend for a while. Papyrus didn't mind though,just from reading their letter he could tell they both had something in common. They both knew what it was like to be desperate for friends, well for the most part.

After the barrier was broken Paps had realized how many friends he actually had, but the feeling of loneliness had been a legitimate one at the time. He had been pretty lonely in the underground but he had at least known he had sans and his god awful jokes to keep him company, this human didn't seem to have anyone.

Paps thought of how that much solitude might affect someone as he made lunch for himself in his and his brother's new apartment. Sans, the underground renowned lazy bones, had been pretty busy doing... _something_ lately and wasn't at home as much, so Paps ended up eating lunch alone a few days out of the week. At first he didn't mind to much because it meant 1) his brother was being productive at something other then napping and 2) that he could make his favorite dinosaur egg oatmeal for lunch instead of everyone else's favorite spaghetti, but as much as he had enjoyed it at first it had gotten pretty lonely after a while.

Most of his friends were really busy making sure everyone was adjusting well to the surface on top of making sure they were safe so they didn't have much time to hang out. Even though the Royal Guard had been disbanded Undyne was worried enough about the threats that she had set up a group of monsters -which mainly consisted of former royal guards- to keep watch around the edge of the district in case any humans tried to sneak in; and when Undyne wasn't organizing the patrol she was helping Alphys with things. Alphys was absurdly busy helping everyone with everything she could so Paps couldn't fault Undyne for wanting to free up some more time to help by making their cooking lessons only once a week.

Papyrus took a deep ‘breath’ before digging into his dinosaur inhabited oatmeal. After he had eaten about half the bowl he started poke at his food and fabricate little stories for the dinosaur bits as he animated them with a gentle nudge from his spoon. Eventually he gave up eating and covered his bowl with cling wrap before putting it in the fridge. It was hard to keep an appetite when eating alone, even if it was his favorite food.

Papyrus took another deep ‘breath’ and huffed because of a slowly forming headache, he needed to do something productive to keep away the unpleasant thoughts that stirred up when he was alone. He walked over to sans’ room and opened the door, quickly checking for any sign of his brother before going over to the desk that was currently blanketed in papers. After he had tidied the ‘controlled chaos’ that was sans’ desk he found the lonely human’s letter under a stack of papers with the rough theme of ‘human perception of monsters’. 

Papyrus peered around the room with the letter in his hands. There were still socks everywhere, sans had bunched up his sheets again -although not as badly as usual- and the self sustaining trash tornado needed to be slimmed down a bit. After glancing between the room and the letter a few times Papyrus hesitantly sat down at the much tidier desk, the strange headache was getting worse so it was probably a good idea to sit down anyway.

Papyrus propped his elbow on the desk, placed the side of his skull in his hand, and gently rubbed his slightly aching temporal bone as he read over the humans letter yet again. He had read it over quite a few times and had all but memorized it word for word. He inspected the handwriting carefully, taking note of the way some letters connected to each other, the way the letters slanted slightly in certain words, and how certain lines had been gone over again to reemphasize what letter it was meant to be.

To a font skeleton handwriting was a way to get to know someone in and of itself, but Sans had warned him to take whatever he got from analyzing the humans handwriting with a grain of salt given how different humans are from monsters. Papyrus personally didn't really think monsters and humans were that different but despite his opinion Paps had decided to heed his brother's advice so he was just tracing the words in his mind, doing his best not to pluck any meaning from it.

Papyrus’s head started to throb as he followed the flow of the script and after about halfway through a second read he was starting to get tired. He continued to trace the words on the letter as his sockets felt heavier

and heavier….

a n d h e v i e r….

~}:{~ 

~}:{~ - ~}:{~

~}:{~

_A much younger Papyrus stood outside his house in the underground. His favorite to-big-for-him scarf was neatly wrapped around his neck and his arms were tucked into the oversized sleeves of his red and orange striped sweater. He paced around the front of the house and was wondering where his brother was. sans was always there to meet him after he got back from school._

_Little Papyrus waited for another few minutes before deciding to peek inside the house, maybe sans was trying to play a prank on him and was just behind the door. The door slowly creaked open and papyrus quickly turned to look behind it, being greeted by only the wall._

_Papyrus hummed his disappointment and continued to search the house for his brother. He checked in every room, inside all the cupboards, under the beds, and he even checked in the couch cushions._

_No sans._

_Paps was starting to get worried. Where could sans be? It wasn't like him to be late like this. Papyrus walked outside again and started fiddling with his scarf as he looked up and down the main path through snowdin; something was weird._

_“ WHERE IS EVERYONE? ” he said quietly to himself. It was silent other then the hushed whispering of the cold breeze and that was not normal around there. The sound of Papyrus’ boots crunching in the snow was added to the silence as he made his was towards Grillby’s. There were always people in Grillby's so maybe they knew what was going on._

_As he trudged through the snow up to Grillby's a chill ran up his spine. The lights were off, the lights were never off in Grillby's ever, not even when it was hours past his bedtime. Paps took a shaky ‘breath’ before testing the door. It was unlocked. Paps buried his face a little deeper into his scarf; this had to be some bad joke sans had convinced everyone to get in on, there was no other explanation. When he found his brother he was going to give him the biggest lecture ever and Paps would not let him doze off during it this time._

_The thought made Paps perk up and puff out his chest, sans would get such a talking to that he wouldn't even think of pranking him ever again! Papyrus opened the door without any further hesitation and was greeted with only darkness; instantly deflating the courage he had inspired in himself._

_“ H-HELLO? ” he stuttered as he took a few shaky steps into the establishment. The door slowly swung closed behind him and a faint purple light began to dimly light up the room. Papyrus blinked a few times and brought his hand up in front of one of his sockets, the purple glow reflecting off of his white bones; his eye had flared up because of how scared he was. Despite it being a sign of his fear he was thankful for the light, it lit up just enough of the room for him to see that there were people sitting at the tables and booths._

_The purple glow coming from his socket blazed into his normal orange light when he saw his brother sitting at the counter and he rushed over, “ SANS! WHY ARE YOU HERE?! YOU HAD ME WORRI- ”_

_Paps cut himself off, something wasn't right. Sans didn't even flinch at the sound Papyrus’ voice and he also looked... older. He seemed to have grown, albeit not a lot, and his bones looked more weathered than usual. Papyrus’ brows knit as he looked around the now more well lit room. No one was moving at all and he recognized several of the monsters there who also looked much older._

_Older versions of the dogs were at one of the tables playing a card game, Clover sat by the jukebox in a leather jacket, and an older Pepper had her head on the table seeming very intoxicated. ‘ WHAT IS GOING ON?’ he thought as he stepped closer to the older version of his brother, flashes of purple encroaching on his eye sockets orange glow._

_“ SANS… PLEASE SAY SOMETHING, TELL ME THIS IS JUST ONE OF YOUR PRANKS. ” Paps pleaded to the older version of his brother while not taking his sockets off of the rest of the seemingly frozen patrons. He reached out a wary hand to grab the sleeve of his brothers jacket but was met with nothing, making papyrus’ attention snap to where the older version of sans should have been._

_His brows raised as he saw that the counter sans was sitting at had moved away from him. He saw the rest of grillby's fade away from the edges of his vision and took another scared step towards the counter; it moved away from him again. Papyrus took one more step forward before he dashed the retreating counter; gasping in horror as it and his brother receded further and further into the darkness._

_“ SANS!? SANS! **PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE!** ” he cried out when he saw his brother disappear into the dark. Paps kept running and running in a futile attempt to catch up to his brother, but he eventually tripped over his own boots. After recovering from the fall he hugged his legs tightly, bones rattling in fear as purple tears streamed down his face. His sockets stared blankly into the blackness as his ‘breath’ became quicker and quicker until he felt like he was choking on the air, gasping helplessly._

_He was all alone. He didn't know where he was anymore. There was nothing but darkness around him._

_He was **Alone.**_

_He was **Lost.**_

_He was **Scared.**_

_These thoughts encompassed his mind, replaying over and over again like a broken record. For a long while he just sat there, curled up in a pathetic trembling ball before he felt a warm, reassuring hand place itself on his own. The seemingly endless tears that had been streaming down his cheeks didn't slow, and he still couldn't catch his breath, but the sensation brought him a step back towards reality._

_“ It’s ok, everything is alright. ” a soothing voice he didn't quite recognize said softly; something about the voice seemed familiar._

_“ I’m right here, you're not alone anymore.” the soft voice reassured. Papyrus’ breathing became easier and less shallow as he felt the warmth from his hand spread lightly around him, as if the unseen figure was bringing him into a gently hug._

_“ I’m here with you. You don't have to worry anymore.” the voice whispered. Paps had finally calmed down enough that he was ‘breathing’ normally enough, and the purple tears began to slow and fade to orange._

_“ There's no need to worry. papyrus? It’s all a bad dream. You just need to wake up. it's not real paps, wake up.”_

~}:{~ 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys have any idea's on things you want to see happen {be it topics in the letters that you want brought up, mini adventures you want reader/the skelebros to go on, or possibly just cute fluffy things that you might want to see ewe} please just leave a comment!~


	7. Bad dreams and Bathtubs (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where the bathtub comes in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still not happy with this chapter but I like the next one enough to make up for it ~  
> And thank you all so much for 100+ kudos and over 1000 hits!!! I hope you continue to enjoy this story because it's been really fun so far!~ 
> 
> ALSO! There is going to be a VERY IMPORTANT poll in the end notes so after you're done reading please place your vote!

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“c’mon paps, you're just havin' a nightmare. i’m right here so you can wake up now.”

Paps’ sockets opened sluggishly and his vision was filled with a blue blur; when his eyes focused he realized that the blue blur was his brothers jacket. Sans had his arms wrapped around Papyrus in a comforting but worried hug and was saying things to try to coax Paps out of the nightmare he had just woken up from.

“SA….SANS? ” Papyrus said, bringing his hands up to rest lightly on his brothers back; he was still a little disoriented.

“oh thank god.” sans breathed so quietly that the only reason Paps heard him was because they were so close. Sans sighed in relief and hugged Papyrus a little tighter “ you really gave me a scare there bro...”

“ OH, I’M SORRY BROTHER, I DID NOT MEAN TO WORRY YOU.” Paps apologized, hugging his brother tighter as well before whipping at one of his sockets that he realized had some tears in it.

“ i know ya didn't, bro, i know.” sans said, giving Paps one more good squeeze before gently pulling back and placing his hands on the sides of his brother’s face, lightly brushing away the remaining tears in Paps sockets. “ are ya alright pap? ‘s been a long time since ya've had a nightmare…”

“ I...I BELIEVE I AM ALRIGHT…” Paps said after he fully regained his bearings, he was still sitting at the desk in sans’ still not quite clean room in their new house on the surface. Papyrus straightened up a bit with his brother still in his arms before saying “ IT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN A GOOD IDEA TO DOZE OFF WITH A HEADACHE BUT YES I AM OKAY NOW.”

“...you dozed off? ” sans said slightly surprised.

“ YES, AS I SAID I HAD A HEADACHE SO AFTER I REORGANIZED YOUR DESK I THOUGHT I SHOULD SIT DOWN. I HAD FOUND THE NOS HUMAN’S LETTER WHILE CLEANING AND DECIDED TO READ OVER IT AGAIN AND STARTED GETTING TI-” as he was talking he looked over to where the human’s letter was on the desk and froze. The letter was horribly crumpled on one side and had several rips in it; papyrus had had it in his hand when he fell asleep.

“ OH NO! S-SANS! I RUINED THE HUMAN’S LETTER! I-I DIDN'T MEAN TO-!” Paps reached a trembling hand towards the remains of the letter. It was all to obvious that he was more frazzled then he had thought after waking up.

it's alright paps, it's alright. ” sans said hugging papyrus again and comfortingly rubbing circles on his back. Papyrus buried his face into his brothers jacket before hugging sans back.

“T-THE HUMAN WOULD NOT BE MAD RIGHT? I-IT WAS MERELY AN ACCIDENT S-SO THEY COULDN'T BE MAD, RIGHT? I-I DO NOT WANT TO UPSET THEM BEFORE THEY ARE EVEN OUT FRIEND.” Paps stuttered into sans’ shoulder, trembling slightly.

Sans stiffened ever so slightly and his hand stopped in its circular course.

“ ...no, i wouldn't think so. you're too cool for anyone to be mad at... pap was...was that what your nightmare was about? Humans being mad at you? ” sans asked cautiously as he returned to gently rubbing Paps back.

“W-WHAT? NO…? MY DREAM DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HUMANS. I WAS IN FRONT OF OUR OLD HOUSE IN THE UNDERGROUND AND-....” Papyrus cut himself off after feeling a pang in his chest and a shudder ran up his spine as he remembered chasing after his brother into the darkness. Why was this dream effecting him so much? He’d had similar ones when he was a baby bones but they hadn't had any lasting effects after sans had calmed him down before.

“ it was that bad? you up to talking about it? ” sans asked as he nuzzled his head into papyrus’ scarf, expecting to be there for a little while.

Papyrus fiddled with his gloves as he debated on what to do. He did really want to tell sans about the bad dream just like he’d done when he was younger, but when he thought about it he got a very uncomfortable and tight feeling in his chest that made him just want to ignore that he’d ever had the nightmare. He took a shaky ‘breath’ before making his decision.

“ N-NOT REALLY….A-AT LEAST NOT AT THE MOMENT.” Papyrus admitted and sans raised his head with a confused hum. “I-...I AM JUST MORE RATTLED BY IT THEN I WOULD LIKE TO ADMIT… CAN WE JUST DO SOMETHING TO HELP ME GET MY MIND OFF IT FOR NOW?”

Sans hummed worriedly before gently pulling back from his hug, giving papyrus a soft smile. “ alright bro, not gonna push it then. ”

“THANK YOU SANS.” papyrus said lightly bumping his forehead against sans’ “ SO...DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR SOMETHING TO DO?”

“heh, well, i do have _one_ if ya want to follow me to the bathroom.  ” sans said with a cheeky grin, making papyrus squint suspiciously.

“THE BATHROOM...? WHAT WOULD WE DO IN THERE?” Paps asked apprehensively.

“well…” Sans snickered a little as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a slightly crinkled envelope written on with bluish pen. “i hear it's a good place to rea- _eeeed?!_ ”

Papyrus stood up quickly with sans in an ecstatic hug as he twirled around happily; every shred of anxiety and sadness sinking into the new sea of excitement “OH MY GOD SANS! THAT'S A WONDERFUL IDEA! " 

Papyrus rushed out of his brothers room while ‘Nyeh’ing with enthusiasm. Papyrus turned into their bathroom and plopped down width wise into the bathtub, letting his legs hang over the edge of the tub as he set sans in his lap facing the same way. He swiftly wrapped his arms around sans’ ribcage and set his skull on top of his brothers.

Papyrus couldn't see sans’ face but it wasn't hard to tell by the ever so slight shaking in his ribs that he was trying to hold back from laughing. Papyrus hummed in confusion but sans just shook his head and leaned back against Paps, holding the letter out far enough for both of them to see clearly.

The handwriting Papyrus had studied so much looked a bit neater then it had before but it was still most definitely the same otherwise. The letter was addressed to S.A.P.S. and Papyrus quickly noticed a little stick figure drawn in an apron waving next to the initials. Paps couldn't help but smile a little as he raised a glove covered phalange to point it out to sans.

“LOOK SANS! THEY DREW A TINY PERSON WAVING AT US! THEY MUST HAVE BEEN INSPIRED TO DECORATE THE ENVELOPE BECAUSE OF MY DRAWINGS! ” he beamed.

“that's awesome bro. after seein’ your drawin’s i wouldn't put it _pasta’m_ to think you're a _bone-ifide cool dude._ ”

“ _SAAAAANS!!!!!_ ” Papyrus grumbled as he forced away his grin, his brother would not win this one! Wait when had sans even seen his drawings? Eh it didn't matter right then anyway, he was too excited to see what the Nos human had written back. “ ENOUGH PUNNERY! PLEASE JUST OPEN THE LETTER ALREADY! ”

Papyrus felt sans’ ribs shake again with more suppressed laughter -Papyrus easily imagining the grin to accompany it- before sans turned the letter around and ran his phalange under the seal. When he flipped up the flap there were two more little stick figures on the underside. A grumpy looking one in an apron -this one seemed to be the Nos human’s depiction of themself- and one with an evil grin labeled landlord that was holding a bunch of little rectangles, papyrus assumed them to be letters but they were labeled as hostages.

Papyrus felt the bone on sans’ forehead shift as he raised a brow bone and Papyrus couldn't help but do the same, letting out a quiet but puzzled hum along with it. After a moment of contemplation from both sans just shrugged a little and pulled out the letter that was on the same parchment textured paper as last time. Along with the letter a little photo fell out of the envelope and Papyrus quickly picked it up.

The two of them both took in a small, awestruck breath when they saw the photo. It was a beautiful picture showing a small but brilliantly orange and yellow lit city shrouded by dark storm clouds, the clouds themselves being lit up with blues and purples from the inside by unseen lightning.

“WOWIE… THIS IS A SPECTACULAR PHOTOGRAPH!” Papyrus said, bringing the picture closer to his face for a better look before handing the picture to sans for him to do the same.

“...yeah, the quality is pretty _shocking._ ” sans punned, and Paps groaned, but despite the pun Papyrus could tell by the tone of his voice that sans was actually pretty impressed by the picture. Sans snickered and turned the picture around to look at something on the back before setting it aside and returning his focus to the letter. “ya mind if i read this out loud? ”

“NOT AT ALL! READ AWAY BROTHER! ” Papyrus encouraged, he always loved it when sans read to him. Sans wiggled a little to get more comfortable before pretending to clear his non-existent throat.

_ ‘Dear S.A.P.S.’ _

_ ‘I’m sorry if this letter took a while to get to you. My landlord was holding about a month's worth of my mail hostage because he’s salty about my rent being cheaper than anyone else's on my floor.’ _

_ ‘Apologies aside just gonna let you know I'm going to reply to your letter entirely backwards. It just turned out to be the easiest way to reply seeing as the topics got more important as the letter went on.’_

_ 'Ok so I’m not an expert pen pal-er or letter writer but there was a pen pal assignment I got in grade school that explained pen pals pretty well from what I remember. Pen pals are supposed to get to know each other and each other’s cultures through letters and sometimes little gifts tucked into the envelopes.' _

_ 'By the way, I put a print of a picture I took from my window in this if you didn't see it already. I actually really like photography and have a *full frame DSLR camera with a wide angle lens that I love. I usually take pictures from my widow because it has a pretty great view but since my camera is expensive I don't really like taking it places anyways.' _

_ 'Speaking of places, you asked if monsters were seen any differently over here. If I'm being honest I’m not sure what people around here think of monsters, never had a real chance to ask, but I know for sure that there's not a lot media on you guys. I've only seen a couple of local news reports even mention monsters and it was all just brief updates on the district.' _

_ 'The most I've seen about monsters was a live interview with the ambassador, their mom, and the king but that was a nationwide broadcast so that was playing on most news channels anyway. I kind of feel like that since monsters are so far away most people here just feel like it's not affecting them in anyway so there’s no reason to think about it to much?' _

__

_ 'Ok for this one I have no idea how to segway this in but why was the doctor hesitant to encourage the theater actor?' _

_ 'Because what kind of doctor tells someone to ‘break a leg’?' _

Sans snorted and covered his mouth in a useless attempt to stifle his snickering. Papyrus covered his face with his gloves and let out a heavily muffled and extremely unamused screech. That was such a dumb joke! Wait, was he smiling!? No! No he was _not_ smiling!

"oh geez- ‘m sorry paps that one caught me off guard! when i said they probably had the broken leg jokes covered i didn't actually think they had any! ” sans explained after he got a bit of his composure back.

__

“ HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THESE THINGS SANS!? IN A SINGLE LETTER YOU SOMEHOW MANAGED TO TAINT THE NOS HUMAN’S SENSE OF HUMOR!” he said through his gloves as he flailed his legs over the edge of the tub, and sans just started snickering again.

__

“heh, i don't know pap, maybe we always had the same _sans_ -se of hu-” “OH MY GOD STOO _OOOP!!!!!_ ” Papyrus screeched as he covered sans’ mouth -as well as a majority of his face- with his gloved hands. “ _ONE MORE PUN_ AND YOU WILL BE _BANISHED FROM THE BATHTUB!!!_ ”

__

“but if i’m not allowed in the tub how can i _clean up my act?_ ” sans said, his deep voice muffled but still clear enough for Papyrus to have understood. Papyrus screeched again as he grabbed sans under the arms and picked him up, ready to gently chuck his brother out of the bathtub.

__

“ hehe! ok! ok! i’m done! i'm _done!_ ” sans pleaded through his laughter, making Paps pause.

__

“YOU MEAN IT?” he asked skeptically.

__

“ yeah, yeah, i mean it!~ so can i at least finish readin’ the letter before ya toss me out with the bath water? ” Papyrus contemplated for a moment whether or not that was a pun before judging it just to be a figure of speech and begrudgingly setting sans back into his lap. Sans readjusted himself and quickly skimmed over the letter to find where he left off, holding back a chuckle as he reread the joke.

__

“ ok here we are. ”

__

_ ‘Now that that’s out of the way I don't blame you for looking up the area. You probably had never even heard of the place before my letter and if monsters are getting threatened enough for the police to get involved you have every right to be cautious. By the way I’m sorry for scaring some of you, I didn't even think about how getting my letter might scare someone.’ _

__

_ ‘Ok so I'm running out of room so I'm gonna have to rush through these last points. I honestly don't even have to look up the complaints from the museum to know they'll all boil down to calling me “egotistical” or “bossy” but I'm glad you still replied even after reading all that crap. _

__

_ ‘As bad as I probably made being stuck in my place sound in my last letter I’m actually doing ~~pretty good~~ ok given the situation. Despite still not quite knowing if they're just taking pity on me my neighbors have been doing a good job keeping me from going too screwy.’ _

__

_ ‘Thanks for the reply, N.O.S.’ _

__

_ ‘P.S. *Translation for the camera jargon: I have a really good and expensive camera with a fancy lens. Sorry for the photography lingo, I forgot not everyone would know that stuff.’ _

__

Sans held the letter open for a little longer -probably skimming over it again- before folding it back up and holding it up for Papyrus to take. “  you want to reply to this one? ”

__

“REALLY?! YOU ARE ASKING ME TO REPLY? ” Papyrus questioned as he excitedly, but gently, took the letter from sans.

__

“ ‘corse. you’re their pen pan too after all. ‘n as much as I enjoy writin' it'd be unfair for me to keep them from gettin’ to know their coolest friend. ”

__

“ THEIR...COOLEST FRIEND? ”

__

“yeah. didn't you make a big deal about them not knowing you were their friend yet when we got their first letter? if the lazy, pun making me is their only other friend then that by default makes you their coolest of cool friend. ” sans said matter of factly, and Papyrus could feel his sockets sparkle with flecks of magic as his bones started to rattle excitedly.

__

“OH! BUT OF COURSE! BY SHEER COMPARISON MY VERY GREAT SELF MUST BE THE COOLEST PERSON THEY'VE EVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TO! SANS YOU ARE BEING SMARTER THAN USUAL TODAY WITH SUCH A BRILLIANT DEDUCTION! ” he beamed as sans turned to lay on his side and yawned.

__

“ yeah, being smart’s exhaustin’ though… could really... go for... a...” was all sans managed to say before starting to ever so quietly snore. Papyrus metaphorically rolled his eyes and sighed with a slight smile, what would sans do without him. He lightly pet his brothers head before carefully setting the letter on the closed toilet seat and gently adjusting sans so he was in his arms.

__

Despite the adjustments it was still quite the feat for Papyrus’ tall self to get out of the bathtub without the use of his arms, but he of course managed it because he was that great, he even did it without sans stirring. When he was out of the tub he adjusted sans again to a more comfortable position before exiting the bathroom.

__

He went to sans’ room with the intent of putting in sans in his own bed but instantly took notice of the still cluttered area. Sweat formed on Papyrus’ skull as he let out a nervous and almost inaudible ‘nyeh heh heh…’; he never had finished cleaning sans’ room had he, whoopsie. He took a slow deep breath -trying not to disturb sans- before heading over to the living room and setting sans down on the couch. He’d be back to put sans in his actual bed after he had properly cleaned it.

__

Papyrus proceeded to clean sans’ room with expert efficiency before retrieving the still sound asleep sans from and couch and gently tucking him into bed. When he was sure sans was comfortable he went back to the bathroom, grabbed the letter from off of the toilet, and headed into the kitchen to both write a reply and finish the oatmeal that he was now more in the mood for eating.

__

He had been so preoccupied with sans that he never even noticed that the Nos humans photo was missing from the bathroom.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Want to know who falls for who? You decide! ](https://strawpoll.com/crczga3e)
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> If you guys have any idea's on things you want to see happen {be it topics in the letters that you want brought up, mini adventures you want reader/the skelebros to go on, or possibly just cute fluffy things that you might want to see ewe} please just leave a comment!~


	8. Trips and Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans does a bit of research.

Sans felt the tips of his phalanges twitch as he slowly began to regain consciousness.

He heard himself groan slightly as his body flipped itself over of its own accord. As much as sleeping was his metaphoric lifeblood when he actually managed to he could never get used to waking up. The involuntary movement and reflexive sounds that came along with the bare minimum of consciousness never failed to trip him out.

He groaned of his own will this time as he tried to twitch his barely responsive limbs into movement, only just managing to drag one of his hands from his side up to rest on his temporal bone before lightly dragging it down to his jaw.

Ugh, when was he waking up this time?

His sockets slid open a crack and he glanced around the room he was in. His dresser was in a different place from usual, the trash tornado was only made up of some papers and a book, and there weren't any socks on the floor; that was what showed he was still in the same time he fell asleep in.

Sans took a deep breath and sighed, the kid was really trying to keep their word on this one huh. It had been a good handful of months since the barrier was broken but sans couldn't bring himself to kick his usual wake up routine just yet, long time habits die hard or something like that.

He rolled over again and yawned before tiredly trying to sit up, limply sliding back down the first try but managing the second time. Whoa, wait, he was actually in his bed with the covers on for once. He fell asleep on Paps in the tub right? Paps must have put him in bed after finishing up cleaning his room….geez it was weird having his room clean.

He rearranged his socks on the floor to help judge when he was in the underground so he had to convince Paps not to clean his room; which was no small feat. After a lot of debate he had somehow gotten Paps to agree to only cleaning his room when they got to the surface. The kid had gotten them up top a few times but never long enough for him to need to add a clean room to his time markers.

Speaking of time, how long had he been asleep? He had gotten back home about 4:00 so unless he really conked out it shouldn't be to long before dinner. He moved the covers off of himself and patted at his shorts pockets for his phone...aw hell, where was his phone.

Sans patted all around his bed but came up with nothing. Crap, had it fallen out of his pocket when he was in the tub with Paps? Nah he would have noticed that, phones aren't the most inconspicuous things when falling into bathtubs. It must have fallen out when Paps was carrying him around then. Sans rolled his eyes and sighed before getting up out of bed.

He quickly fixed his jacket so it wasn't awkwardly twisted around him before walking across his room and heading out into the main hall. Hm? Why was it so quiet? If it's actually around dinner time Paps should be making a racket with his cooking, and even if it wasn't dinner he should at least hear the sound of Mettaton on the TV. Sans hummed nervously as he carefully made his way towards the living room.

It only took a quick glance around for him to spot his phone and a piece of paper sitting on the kitchen island. One of his brow bones raised as he walked over and picked up the paper; oh, it was a note from Pap.

‘ _SANS, IF YOU ARE NOT AWAKE BEFORE I GET BACK THIS NOTE IS TO INFORM YOU THAT I WILL BE ON AN EXCURSION TO THE STORE! DESPITE OUR PLENTIFUL SUPPLIES OF NOODLES WE HAVE RUN OUT OF THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT FOR DINNER! VEGETABLES! SPAGHETTI IS NOT QUITE SPAGHETTI WITHOUT A GREAT SAUCE AND THERE IS NO SAUCE WITHOUT VEGETABLES! SO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR MY RETURN AND **DO NOT TAKE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO GO TO GRILLBY’S FOR DINNER!!!** ’_

‘ _-THE GREAT SPAGHETORE, PAPYRUS ’_

' _P.S. I DISCOVERED THAT YOUR PHONE HAD SOMEHOW MANAGED TO FIND ITS WAY UNDER THE LITTLE RUG IN THE LIVING ROOM... BECAUSE I STEPPED ON IT. I AM SURE IT STILL WORKS FINE! FOR EVEN THOUGH I AM GREAT I AM NOT ALL THAT HEAVY! ...IF IT IS BROKEN THOUGH I WILL GET YOU A NEW ONE.’_

Sans shook his head and he chuckled at Papyrus’ note, his brother was the actual best sometimes...all the times. He put the note back down before picking up his phone, checking if it still turned on, and putting it back in his pocket. Sans raised a brow bone when he noticed something else in his pocket before pulling out none other than the new humans photograph.

Oh yeah, this thing… he had pocketed it when Paps wouldn't have noticed so he could do a bit of research. He stared down at the surprisingly good picture for a bit before letting out an annoyed huff and walking back to his room photo in hand. He sat down at the much cleaner desk and stared at the picture a little longer before taking out his phone and opening up the browser app. He started looking up word combos that might lead to a similar picture, and there where a lot of _similar_ pictures it was just that none of them were of the same city as in the one he had in his hand or had the same feel to them.

Sans exhaled and set his phone down, casually flipping the photo to look at what was written on the back.

_ ‘xx-xx-xx’ _

_ ‘P 15/27/18 A.S.’ _

_ ‘Hard week. Tripped, winded, bruised ribs, P-A CW.' _

_ ‘Good storm, no good strikes.’ _

Sans really didn't know what to make of what was written. The very first set of numbers had to be the date given its top left location while the rest was roughly in the middle but the second set with the letters he had no clue about. What did the P stand for and why was it before the numbers? What were the numbers representing? It couldn't be a date as well because none of the numbers correlated with an actual month, and what the heck did A.S. stand for? The written bit seemed to be a little more straight forward looking like a hyper abbreviated journal entry, but it was so abbreviated he couldn't really get much other then it seemed like they got in an accident that week. He couldn't make heads or tails of what P-A CW meant or what was up with the storms and strikes, but honestly why was he looking into it anyway?

Sans set the picture photo side up before putting his hands on his face, leaning back in the chair, and dragging his phalanges all the way down his face with a slight groan. Why _was_ he even looking into it? Was he actually that suspicious of Nos? He really was wasn't he…? He had tried hiding that _completely normal letter_ from Papyrus and he wouldn't have done that if he wasn't suspicious. If Paps hadn't had that nightmare he wouldn't have even shown Paps the letter at all but he felt it was the best way to cheer him up at the time...but why did he try to hide the letter in the first place? Nos hadn't said anything to be suspicious of in either of their letters so far….

Could be... Oh no. It was totally because they were human wasn't it?!

Damn it! He had been trying to give Nos the benefit of the doubt but here he was being all biased just because they were a human. He only met like two in the underground so where did this human bias even come from? Was… was it because of Frisk? No...despite everything he was on decent terms with them now so they probably weren't the cause. He had a pretty shoddy opinion of humans even before the kid so yeah they couldn't have been the reason…

Sans tipped his head back and let out a weird gurgling groan that he couldn't help but slightly chuckle after hearing it. Well, he’s probably going to have to work on his own view of humans but for now he had remembered that Papyrus had probably written a response to the letter already. Not only was it probably misformated again but they couldn't get mail to or from their box anymore so he’d have to make a little trip for it to be sent.

Sans tipped his head back forward and looked at both his phone and the photograph before pocketing them. He hopped off of the desk chair and took a quick shortcut outside where the complex's mail boxes were being lit up by streetlights... and he still couldn't get over the janky set up of them. They were all normal metal mailboxes but in 4 rows of 6 stacked on top of each other with bits of metal screwed on top to hook a pad lock onto. There were also two big sheets of metal across the back of them that were held together by their own heavy duty padlock; the mailman probably had the only key for it.

He gave an unamused hum before using a couple bones to help him up the couple inches he needed to reach the top row of mailboxes. Since there was no reason to keep them everyone had taken off the padlocks so he just opened up the mailbox and fished out Paps letter. He was a little surprised to see it properly formatted but glad that he wouldn't need to mess with anything this time since Paps had filed every free spot with doodles in a different color pen to the addresses

He let the bones he was standing on fade away and before his feet even got the chance to hit the ground he took a shortcut to an alley not to far out of the monster district. He quickly flipped his hood up, pulled up his socks to hide his tibiae and fibulae, and pulled his shorts down a little to hide his femurs and patellae before he started walking. He knew monsters weren't allowed out of the district but he had sneaked by a couple times to see how well the guards were doing at their jobs...and kind of cause he was curious but this was the first time he had been farther then a block or two out so this was extremely unfamiliar territory.

He wished he could have just taken a shortcut straight to one of those postal drop off things but he hadn't explored far enough out of the district to know where one was. Ugh, it was so weird not knowing an area well enough that he could just pop right to where he needed to be, he had been in the underground for so long he had almost forgotten that he needed to know where he was going to take a shortcut. Walking was a huge pain though and he could only hope that since it was dark no human would notice his face or how skinny his legs were.

Sans walked around for a little while, silently cursing that mailman that was caught lurking to long and got human mail services banned from the district. He was lucky to have been passing by the guard line when that creep was going off about having a letter in the district or he would have never known the human had replied. He just hoped those damn cops kept their word on holding Nos’s letters for them when they came in.

“Hey kid!” a male voice said from a short distance off.

Sans kept walking.

“Hey you! Kid in the fuzzy blue jacket!” and at that sans stopped.

 _Great._ He’d been spotted. Looked like they didn't realize he wasn't human though.

“ ‘m not'a kid, jus short is all.” he said back, not daring to turn and look at the person talking.

“Oh shit, sorry dude! I thought you were a little kid roaming the back alleys and got worried some creep might try to pick you off.” the voice said from a bit closer, sounding sincere enough. 

‘ _you're the only creep here pal._ ’ sans thought.

“So what are you doing skulking around back alleys this late in the evening?” the voice asked, staying the same distance behind sans. Sans grinned slightly at the obviously unintentional pun, maybe he could make the best of this situation.

“actually i’m hella lost. could ya possibly point me in the right direction to send this letter to my pal?” he asked, carefully holding the letter up to show the lurker without showing his fingers. “ i’ve been tryin’ to find a mail drop thing for like 20 minutes now but i’m not from ‘round here so i don't know where to even start lookin’. ”

“Oh sure! There’s one just on the corner of Montgomery and second street! .....I can take you there. It's only a few blocks north from here so it's no trouble.” the voice said, getting a little closer and a little creepier when the human offered him an escort.

“i appreciate the offer but i can get there on my own now that i know where i’m headed, thanks for the directions though.” sans said and started to walking again.

“Common dude, I said it’s only a few blocks.” despite sans walking the voice had gotten closer again, only a couple yards or so away now.

“ and i said i appreciate the offer but _no thanks._ so back off, _**d u d e.**_ ” sans said harshly as he picked up the pace.

“Hey! I’m just trying to be nice! _Don't be a dick!_ ” the voice lunged closer and sans _bolted._ He ran with loud steps not to far behind him until the alley made a sharp turn. He took a shortcut the second he rounded the corner to a good ways behind the creeper and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He just barely heard that creep’s voice yelling angrily as to where sans disappeared to when he turned into a different alley.

Sans continued to run for a bit but he could feel himself wearing out fast. He took another shortcut to a little alcove of boxes he’d noticed a few blocks back and hid there while he tried to catch his breath. His hood had come off while he was running so he quickly put it back up, hoping no one had seen him.

He shuddered, not knowing if it was more unnerving to think that the human had figured out he was a monster, or if they had thought he was a human the entire time. Ugh that dude was so sketchy he might as well have been a pencil...oh that was a pretty good one, he’d have to remember it later when he _wasn't_ surrounded by possible danger.

After he had his breath back sans pulled out his phone and looked up a map of the area. Well there was in fact an intersecting Montgomery and Second street a few blocks from here so that at least was a good sign. He had no reason to believe that creep but it was the only lead he had. He’d already been gone for a while and Paps was at the very least on his way home if not cooking dinner and wondering where he was. He gingerly peaked out of his box fort before stepping back out into the alley and starting to walk again.

He purposely avoided heading in the same direction he’d left the creep in which lead to more of an eclectic route to the intersection he was looking for. After a few more turns he peaked out of the alley to see a sign saying Montgomery. Farther down the sidewalk was a postal box glistening beautifully in the street lights, or it might have just been sans’ overly relieved mind imagining the sparkles radiating from it but either way.

Sans let out a huge sigh of relief and had to keep himself from dashing over and hugging the thing after all the walking and the creep he had to deal with in order to find it. Sans forced himself to walk over to it as casually as possible and he shoved the letter in the box glad to finally be rid of the thing. He walked back to the alley and all to eagerly popped back to his house, purposely making sure he appeared above the couch so he could flop right down onto it.

“SANS I _**SWEAR TO GOD**_ IF YOU SMELL LIKE GRILLBY’S I WILL _REVOKE YOUR COUCH PRIVILEGES!!!!_ ” Papyrus yelled as he stomped into the living room wielding a ladle and wearing an apron that once said ‘kiss the cook’ but had been edited to say ‘ DON'T NOOGIE the cook’.

‘ was temptin' but nah, just went on an errand that took longer than i wanted it to...” sans said weakly as he reached out a hand towards his brother. Papyrus holstered the ladle into one of the aprons pockets before he walked over and picked sans up off of the couch; sticking his face into sans’ jacket to get a whiff.

“ _EEEW!!!!_ YOU'RE ALL _SWEATY_ AND _GROSS_ AND SMELL LIKE _POLLUTION!_ ” Papyrus recoiled at the smell that was assaulting his nasal cavity and held sans as far away from himself as possible.

“ yeah, thought i’d walk through some back alleys. turned out to be a bad idea on several fronts though…” he said wiping at his forehead with the side of his hand and cringing at how sweaty he actually was. Papyrus walked over to the bathroom with sans still at arms length and set him down in front of the door.

“YOU ARE TAKING A SHOWER _THIS INSTANT!_ LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR IN THE BATHROOM, THEIR STENCH IS _NOT WELCOME_ UNTIL I CLEAN THEM! ” Papyrus commanded and sans wasn't about to protest. Now that he was more relaxed he could feel sweat dripping off of his ribs and sliding down his spine where his shirt wasn't clinging to his bones, it was uncomfortable to say the least.

Sans nodded to his brother as he walked into the bathroom, closing the door most of the way before stripping and gently kicking his dirty clothes in to the corner after he took his phone out of his pocket. As soon as the water started to wash over he couldn't help but start purring, this was exactly what he needed after such a long and trouble some day.

He just sat in the shower relaxing until Papyrus burst in saying that he’d been in there to long and dinner was getting cold. Sans makes a bad pun and grins widely as Papyrus covers his face to hide his own grin while reprimanding him.

Despite the paranoia, the old habits, and the newly discovered bias sans felt like he could get use to all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a chance next chapter might be a little late. A certain punny person made it so that the reader chapter I had planned would have to be put on the back burner for some more good old sans and Paps jokes and japery.


	9. Coats and Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus goes for a walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok just a disclaimer before you start reading! Last week when I wrote this I was extremely sick and running on only DETERMINATION and COUGH SYRUP so this is going to be kind of haphazard. 
> 
> Also I'm already noticing chapters from Pap's POV end up being significantly longer è-ê this entire chapter was originally just going to be a quick transition excerpt before the contents of what will now be the next chapter but it got to long. With this the 2 skelebro chapters I had planned before returning to reader has turned into FIVE CHAPTERS! Jesus popato chisp... thankfully all I have to do is add more reader chapters to balance it out which shouldn't be too hard.

When sans had gone to bed after he had eaten dinner and read Peek-a-boo with fluffy bunny Papyrus turned on the TV and started watching Mettaton’s show.

It was a repeat of Mettaton's last few episodes with Frisk from just before the barrier was broken -not Mettaton's best though he still loved them- but Papyrus couldn't seem to keep his focus on his favorite sexy rectangle. Even though sans had done an expert job of getting and keeping his mind off of his nightmare now that Papyrus was alone with his thoughts he found himself thinking about it again.

Why was that darn nightmare sticking with him so much? He was completely calm now and wasn't the slightest bit frazzled by it anymore...well, he didn't _feel_ frazzled at least but he kind of had to be if he couldn't keep his mind off of it. It was just an amalga- er, a _mix_ of the ones he had as a baby bones. Sans not showing up after school, Snowdin being completely empty other than him, sans disappearing and leaving him alone in the dark, they were all dreams he’d had and gotten over before! The only new-ish thing was Grillby’s not having it’s lights on and the frozen people but he’d had that happen in a non nightmare dream before so _nothing_ about this nightmare was new to him!

He grumbled with annoyance before turning the TV off. He needed to do something, he couldn't just sit around or else he’d just get more an more annoyed about that blasted dream. He got up off of the couch and quietly roamed the house looking for something to clean or for a puzzle to calibrate, but he’d already cleaned everything that needed -or could be- cleaned and all of his now much smaller collection of puzzles were already properly dealt with.

He paced around the living room quietly. He was feeling quite restless all of a sudden...or maybe he’d been restless the entire time and it had only just now come to his attention, but there was nothing left in the house for him to do. He paused in his pacing to glance towards the door. He’d already been out once today but it was late enough that most everyone else would just assume he was trying to find a place to watch the stars. No one would question why he was out so late and a walk around the district did sound like a great idea at the moment.

He walked to his room and grabbed the coat Undyne had bought him in return for letting her keep the jacket he lent her for her first date with Alphys. She had called it something like a ‘pit coat’ and said only the coolest and most ‘badass’ people in human history wore them, she had hoped it would make him feel better about never getting the chance to finish his royal guard training. It wasn't his usual style and given Undyne’s description of how it was supposed to look he had a feeling it was to short for him but it was a gift nonetheless; it would be rude if he didn't wear it so what better time would there be then on a late night walk around town?

He threw the ‘pit coat’ on over his battle body -he needed to retire it at this point but he couldn't bring himself to just yet- and readjusted his scarf so it would sit on top of the coats collar before heading back through the house and out the door. After a quick glance around he went down the external staircase and crossed the empty parking lot heading towards the heart of the district.

The district was pretty quiet at night. The only sounds to be heard were the distant busyness of the human part of the city or the occasional disappointed groan because of the rest of the city’s light making it hard to see the night sky -who knew light could make it harder to see things-. Papyrus walked around from the heart of the city spiraling outwards until he was only a few blocks from the guard line. When he got close enough to the edge of the district to see the human guard he decided was satisfied with his walk. He was about to head back home when he saw a familiar form turn down an alley.

Was..was that the armless kid that started hanging around him after the barrier was broken just now? What was he doing out at this time of night? More importantly why was he alone so close to the guard line? Papyrus was sure most of the Snowdin residents had moved closer to where he and sans lived and that was halfway across the district from there. Papyrus looked at the alley, towards the guards, and then towards the direction of home before following the kid, what kind of former royal-guard-to-be would let a kid wander around alone at night.

The kid didn't seem to be paying much attention this surroundings or even where he was going. He was just walking and turning wherever in a similar fashion to how Papyrus had been walking just before, but seeming to be more deep in his thoughts than ignoring them. The kid turned down one more alley dangerously close to the edge of the district before he just stopped and stared out towards the human part of the city. Papyrus carefully walked closer and was about to ask if he was ok when the kid whipped around and shrieked upon seeing Papyrus’ looming form, the entire situation making the both of them fall backwards in surprise.

“OOOOWIE …” Papyrus mumbled after getting over the shock from both the fall and the shriek.

“P-Papyrus? Yoooo don't scare me like that dude!” the kid said leaning over in a way that showed that if he had hands he’d be holding them over his soul.

“ I’M SORRY, I DID NOT MEAN TO SCARE YOU. I SAW YOU WALKING AROUND ALONE AND WAS WONDERING IF YOU WERE ALRIGHT?” he said apologetically.

“ W-well I’m alright now but when I first saw you I thought you were a human! You scared me pretty good yo.” the kid said adjusting to sit more comfortably. Now that Papyrus got a good look at him the kid looked really tired, dark circles noticeable under the bruises around his eyes.

“YOU... THOUGHT I WAS A HUMAN?” he said tilting his head.

“Yeah dude! That big coat made you not look like you and since the edge of the district is _right there_ I thought you were a human!”

“...BUT WHY WOULD THINKING I WAS A HUMAN SCARE YOU SO BADLY? YOU AND FRISK ARE FRIENDS RIGHT? ” Papyrus asked and the kid looked a little startled before looking to the side with a contemplative expression. There was a pause long enough that Papyrus recognized it to mean he didn't want to talk about it. Change of subject then. “WELL THAT DOES NOT MATTER. IT IS QUITE LATE, MAYBE EVEN EARLY AT THIS POINT, AND I AM NOT JUST GOING TO LET YOU WALK ALL THE WAY BACK HOME BY YOURSELF. ”

“W-what?! No no, you don't have to walk me back home yo!” the kid said scrambling awkwardly to his feet and almost falling a time of two before catching himself. “I can make it back on my own!”

“WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT WALKING YOU HOME? I WAS GOING TO GIVE YOU A LIFT. ” Papyrus said, standing up himself and dusting off the back of his pit coat. The kid’s jaw dropped and his eyes sparkled a little with very quiet ‘ _yooooooooo_ ’. After a moment of gawking he shook his head to snap himself out of it.

“N-nope! I’m good yo! I don't need no...super awesome lift from….the great a-and awesome and _always cool_ Papyrus…” the kid said sounding less and less meaningful about his objection as he went, the compliments making Papyrus grin and puff out his chest proudly.

“ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU DO NOT WANT A LIFT? YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER SO I WILL NOT PICK YOU UP WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION, BUT IT IS QUITE A WAYS TO WALK.” he said tilting his head slightly. The kids eyes were sparkling again but it definitely looked like he was heavily debating the offer. After a moment of steadily increasing fidgeting from the kid he finally spoke up again.

“ A-actually a lift sounds..it sounds _awesome_ right now!” the kid said almost trembling with excitement.

“ALRIGHTY THEN! UP YOU GO!” Papyrus said before he walked over, picked up the kid, and set him on his shoulders. The kid let out a giddy laugh and said something about this being ‘better than the time Undyne touched his face’. “YOU LIVE NOT TO FAR FROM ME RIGHT? I’LL JUST HEAD BACK TOWARDS MY HOUSE AND THEN YOU CAN TELL ME WHERE TO GO FROM THERE!”

“O-oh ok dude! Sounds like a plan!” the kid confirmed as he tried to keep himself from fidgeting.

Papyrus started walking and it was only a few block before the kid started fidgeting less. A few blocks past that he completely stopped fidgeting and one more block past that he laid his head on top of Papyrus’ skull. Did the kid just fall asleep? No that was just a sigh, people don't normally sigh in their sleep he didn't think. After another sigh and a slight tightening of the kids legs around his neck Papyrus hummed questioningly.

“Papyrus did….did we... do something bad?”

“HM? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“I...I’ve only seen people even close to as angry as the humans are when someone’s done something bad...like _really bad._ Like...like _hurting someone_ bad…” he said sadly and Papyrus felt the kid's chest quiver slightly.

“OH… TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION NO, I DO NOT THINK WE DID ANYTHING BAD...ACTUALLY I'M QUITE CERTAIN WE HAVEN'T! ….ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE HUMANS?” Papyrus asked cautiously and there was another pause from the kid before he started talking again.

“...y-yeah….I. ..I’ve been having this bad dream where I’m protecting my sister from a human but….b-but I'm not strong enough to do anything but make sure she doesn't get hit a-and right when the human is about to finish me off for sure-” the kid paused, the shaking in his chest making it obvious that he was trying to not cry, “r-right as I’m about to get hit Undyne j-jumps in the way a-and gets _really hurt!_ A-all I'm able to do is run o-or else I’d just be in the way but- b-but-!”

The kid just started sobbing and Papyrus stopped walking instantly and lifted the kid off of his shoulders to hug him. He gently rubbed the kids back in the way he and sans always did for each other as he consoled the crying kid with quiet shushes and reasurences. He stayed like this letting the kid cry into his coat until his sobbing dropped down to the occasional shudder or hiccup.

“I-I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me. I don't- I-I don't-...!”

“NO ONE IS GOING TO GET HURT! BECAUSE OF YOU OR OTHERWISE! _ESPECIALLY_ NOT UNDYNE! THE ONLY PLACE SHE CAN GET HURT IS IN BAD DREAMS! ” Papyrus reassured and the kid sniffled and wiped their face on his coat.

“Y-yeah. No one can hurt Undyne… only in...only in bad dreams…” the kid said into Papyrus’ coat before sniffling one last time and using his head to gently push himself away. “I-I’m sorry yo, that was so uncool of me. I-I’ve had that nightmare before when all of us were still in the underground but now that there are humans everywhere it just seemed more possible you know?”

“THAT IS A REASONABLE ASSUMPTION BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY NO ONE IS GOING TO BE HURT! YES THE HUMANS SEEM ANGRY BUT I THINK WE JUST SURPRISED THEM! THEY JUST NEED SOME TIME TO GET USE TO US AND THEN WE WILL ALL BE FRIENDS, YOU'LL SEE!” Papyrus said holding the kid out so he could look at them face to tear stained face.

“You really think we’re all gonna be friends with the humans?” the kid said hopefully with a smile.

“THINK?! I KNOW SO! EVEN WITHOUT LEAVING THE DISTRICT ME AND MY BROTHER HAVE ALREADY MADE A NEW HUMAN FRIEND SO JUST THINK ABOUT HOW MANY HUMAN FRIENDS WE WILL ALL HAVE WHEN EVERYTHING CALMS DOWN A BIT AND WE GET TO LEAVE THE DISTRICT!” he said proudly, feeling his sockets spark with magic as the kid looked at him in amazement.

“whaaaat?! You already have a new human friend?! Yooooooooo!! That's _so cool!_ How did you become friends if you haven't left the district!?” the kid asked excitedly which made Papyrus smile widely.

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS HIS WAYS! BUT FOR NOW LET'S FURTHER ADDRESS ANOTHER ASPECT OF THAT NIGHTMARE OF YOURS. YOU SAID YOU HAD TO RUN AWAY BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T STRONG ENOUGH AND FELT YOU'D JUST BE IN THE WAY RIGHT?” Papyrus questioned and the kid nodded slowly, not sure where Paps was going with this. “WELL THE BEST AND MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO GET RID OF THAT KIND OF FEELING IS BY _NOT_ NOT BEING STRONG ENOUGH! ”

The kids face fell again but Papyrus’ enthusiasm didn't waiver. “B-But how am I gonna not _not_ be strong enough? I’m still just a kid. It's not like I can train with Undyne like you did…”

“NONSENSE! ...WELL SOME SENSE IN THE RESPECT OF TRAINING WITH UNDYNE BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT! YOU ARE NEVER TO YOUNG TO START TRAINING! FORTUNATELY FOR YOU MY OWN TRAINING WAS PREEMPTIVELY COMPLETED SO I HAVE AMPLE TIME AND EXPERIENCE TO BE YOUR PERSONAL TRAINER!” Papyrus said as he held up the kid while attempting to pose. The sparkles that the kid had in his eyes when Papyrus first offered him a lift shone brightly as his jaw fell open from shock.

“ _Yoooooo_ am I dreaming?! I _have to be_ dreaming!” they said dumbfounded and excitedly fidgeting.

“THIS IS VERY MUCH NOT A DREAM! AT LEAST I DON'T THINK IT IS? IF IT IS THOUGH WHICH ONE OF US WOULD BE THE ONE DREAMING?” Papyrus said lowering the kid down to chest level with a contemplative look on his face. The kid was about to answer but realized something and started looking pretty confused. “....I WIll MAKE A NOTE TO ADD METAPHYSICAL THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS TO OUR TRAINING, WHETHER THE TRAINING IS ABOUT THEM OR HOW TO AVOID THEM IS TO BE SEEN. FOR NOW THOUGH I STILL NEED TO GET YOU HOME!”

The kid nodded in agreement and Papyrus lifted the kid back onto his shoulders and returned to walking. When they had walked all but a few blocks to Papyrus’ house the kid started directing him and they ended up at a larger apartment complex. He and the kid said their farewells and Papyrus started walking back home thinking of training regiments and how to make sure the kid wasn't scared of humans.

Maybe he should get the Nos humans photo back from sans, it was a great example of the friendship potential of humans.


	10. Darkness and Eye Dots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have realized something dangerous.
> 
> I FIND PAPS REALLY FUN TO WRITE! I had hoped to wrap up this mini arc in this chapter but I was just having a ball describing Paps antics cx" so it looks like it's going to take another chapter to finish this up... but if it takes a while to get through arcs then it takes a while to get through arcs, this is already going to be the slowest burn anyway so why not embrace it~
> 
> ALSO there is going to be a poll at the bottom for what you guys want from the next chapter so cast your vote!

After he had gotten home Papyrus decided to see if he could find the Nos human's photo without having to disturb sans.

Despite him always nagging sans for napping he was kind of worried about him breaking his nap cycle so often lately. Paps was proud of his brother for being productive and all but he didn't want sans to over exerting himself. Sans said he ran an errand yesterday and had _walked_ to wherever it was; given the size of the district it couldn't have been a long walk but sans had appeared back home so sweaty and tired that it worried him.

Papyrus looked all around the house in search of the photo but came up with nothing. He checked in the bathroom, under the couch and living room rug, and he even double checked the pockets of sans’ freshly cleaned favorite outfit again just to be sure, but still nothing. He sighed, it could only be in sans’ room at that point.

He went back to the living room and sat down on the couch before taking his phone out from inside his battle body’s chest piece. He glanced towards the bedrooms before returning his gaze to his phone and checking the time. Darn it, it was only a little past midnight and sans’ night naps normally last at least until 2 unless something happens to shorten them. Well, it was only two hours and he didn't even need the picture right now if all he wanted it for was to show the kid, he could wait until then.

He sat there for a couple minutes thinking and his mind ended up on when he handed sans the picture while they were both in the bathroom; sans had turned the picture around after looking at it. Papyrus hadn't actually thought there might be something on the back but in hindsight sans had looked at it just long enough to have been reading something.

Why hadn't sans said anything about it? What was on the back of the photo? Had the Nos human left them a little comic on the back? Or maybe it was an inscription of the events preceding the capture of the picture? Seriously though why hadn't sans mentioned what was on the back? Sans had obviously seen something and… and then he took the photo while Paps was distracted...

Oh no, sans was trying to hide things from him again wasn't he?

Papyrus groaned quietly and leaned back on the couch. He had hoped all the hiding things would stop when they got to the surface, but apparently not. He really should have guessed as much though since sans hadn't told him where he kept going around lunch, but it looks like Paps still had the habit of just ignoring those things…

He sighed. It was dumb of him to think things would change just because they got to the surface. These were habits from year upon years upon years, they weren't going to be broken just because the barrier did... at least not this soon. Sans-... no, they _both_ just needed a bit more time to adjust to things up here. It wouldn't be fair for him to push sans to open up if he wasn't ready to himself, so that would have to wait.

In the meantime though, sans _was_ asleep. Paps checked the time again and it was still only a quarter past midnight. As long as he was quiet enough he could check around sans’ room for the photo. Papyrus was a master at being quiet….when he wanted to be at least, so he could be in and out of there without sans ever knowing! It was the perfect plan!

Filled with vigor Papyrus dramatically leapt from his spot on the couch but in mid air corrected himself to land in a sneaky pose. This was a stealth mission. His normal theatrics had to be put on hold until it's completion. He straightened himself and tiptoed quietly to his own room where he took off his pit coat and boots; he didn't want a repeat of what happened with that kid given sans' questionable view of humans.

After that he carefully peaked around the corner of his doorway towards sans’ room. The door to his brothers room was cracked open. _Perfect!_ No stealth points to be lost to the tyranny of doorknobs! He turned the corner silently and carefully nudged the door open to reveal-! ….Pure and utter darkness.

Oh drat, how could he have forgotten that sans kept his room as dark as the pit in waterfall?! Papyrus didn't understand how sans could get around in this horrifying black abyss of a living space -he assumed it had something to do with the fact that sans had _bright eyes_ , nyeh heh- but nonetheless this was a setback... in no way a devastating one though! He had just cleaned in there so all he had to do was find his way over to the desk and then he could just feel around for something photo shaped! This revised version of the plan was perfect!

He crept into the dark room, pausing for only a moment to squash the uncomfortable feeling of being in the dark before he made his way towards where he knew the desk was. He had thought he had a few more steps before he got to the desk but he had misjudge the distance and ended up kicking the chair. Papyrus had to cover his mouth in order to not squeak in surprise and his head snapped over to the direction sans’ bed was in. He just stared into the darkness for a few moments and was relieved when no white dots appeared.

Ok that was to close…. Maybe feeling around in the dark wasn't the best idea. That just meant the revised plan needed yet another revision and at that point into this stealth operation there was only one way to ‘shed some light’ on the situation.

Papyrus took a deep breath and focused on trying to get his magic to manifest in his eye socket. He didn't usually try to get his eye to glow, it was kind of an involuntary thing, but he was literally in the dark and all he needed was for it to glow the slightest amount so he could see what was on the desk. Focus…. _Focus…_

“ papyrus, what heck are you doing?”

Papyrus squeaked in surprise and a bright flash of purple filled the room for a split second before flickering out. He turned his head slowly back towards sans’ bed to see his brother’s face ever so slightly illuminated by his own eye dots. Sans appeared to be dazed by the sudden flash after being in the dark and seemed, ironically, to be blinking away spots in his vision.

“OH! I’M SORRY! I DID NOT MEAN TO DISTURB YOUR NIGHT NAP! IN FACT I WAS VERY SPECIFICALLY TRYING _NOT_ TO! ” Papyrus apologized.

“well maybe ya shouldn't’ve summoned up so much magic if you were tryin' not to disturb me… but back to my previous question.” sans said sounding the very slightest bit grumpy before he stifled a yawn.

“I WAS CHECKING TO SEE IF THE NOS HUMAN’S PHOTO WAS IN HERE. I LOOKED EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE HOUSE BUT COULDN'T FIND IT.”

“wha? why would you check in my room for it?” he said seeming to raise a brow bone but Papyrus couldn’t quite tell with the limited amount of light.

“BECAUSE THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE I HAVE NOT CHECKED. I AM UNSURE AS TO WHY YOU WOULD HAVE IT BUT THERE IS NOT ANOTHER PLACE IT COULD BE UNLESS IT GREW LEGS AND WALKED OUT OF THE HOUSE...THAT WAS MEANT TO BE AN ILLOGICAL STATEMENT BUT COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED??” Papyrus questioned after remembering how Undyne had said Frisk’s soul grew legs to run from her during their battle.

Sans chuckled tiredly while shaking his head, “nah pap, i don't think it grew legs...did you check in the pockets of my clothes?”

“YES! I CHECKED _EVERYWHERE_ BUT IN HERE! I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU JUST WOKE BUT I HAVE RESTATED THAT THREE TIMES NOW. ” Papyrus said slightly exasperated, but he couldn't deny that he was a little surprised that sans openly insinuated that he actually had the photo.

“wait it wasn't in my pockets?” sans said blinking a few times and then looking to the side. After a moment he glanced back at Papyrus before crawling out from under his covers and walking over to where his dresser was opposite to his bed. Papyrus could only see the dots that were sans’ eyes moving and a small bit of his face but from the sounds he could tell sans was looking through his drawers.

After quite the bit of rummaging Sans’ brows knit, seemingly because he hadn't found what he’d been looking for. Sans turned back to face Paps, walked over to the desk, and started looking around there as well; his search again appearing to come up empty. Sans put his hand on the side of his skull and looked very confused and concerned; after a moment though sans seemed to have realized something and his eye dots flickered out.

“S-SANS?” Papyrus said not only worried about sans but also uncomfortable with not being able to see anything again.

“...you remember how i said it probably didn't grow legs?”

“OF COURSE. YOU SAID THAT ONLY FIVE SECTIONS OF DIALOG AGO.” Papyrus said with an unamused expression, not sure if he should be questioning sans’ memory at that point.

“well, uh...it didn't need to grow a pair of it's own...it kinda borrowed mine.” sans said and a few glowing beads of sweat appeared in the darkness.

“SANS WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?”

“i … i think i might have dropped it while running that errand yesterday.” sans said before chuckling nervously.

Wait...Did sans actually just _admit_ to having the photo!? Maybe his earlier worries about sans hiding things were unfounded! … No, it was still a reasonable worry. Sans did take the photo without telling him and still hadn't mentioned a word about where he goes at lunch, but if this was anything to go by sans seemed to at least be _trying_ to not hide things as much, which is all he could ask for really.

“SO… YOU ARE SAYING THAT YOU LOST OUR NEW HUMAN FRIEND’S GIFT TO US WHILE ON A WALK THROUGH SOME BACK ALLEYS TO DO SOME INDISCRIMINATE ERRAND?”

“y-yeah…’m sorry...” sans said as a few more glowing beads of sweat formed on his skull.

“WHAT ARE YOU APOLOGIZING FOR? THIS IS GREAT NEWS!” Papyrus said clapping his gloved hands together. Sans’ eye dots flickered back on in surprise and he stared up at Papyrus with confusion laden in his gaze. “b-but i lost it outside? how is that good news??”

“IT IS GOOD NEWS BECAUSE NOW I KNOW YOU HAD IT! IF I DID NOT FIND IT IN YOUR ROOM I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ELSE I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY LOOKED! BUT NOW THAT I KNOW YOU DROPPED IT WE JUST NEED TO FOLLOW THE PATH YOU TRAVELED TO WHEREVER IT WAS YOU WENT AND KEEP A LOOK OUT FOR THE PHOTO!” he said with a grin only sans could see at the moment. Some of the sweat drops on sans’ skull faded but the ones that stayed started to trickle down his skull.

“it… it isn't quite that simple pap… i didn't really take the most _direct_ route. i kinda just walked in the general direction i needed to go until i got there. i don't even have an idea of where i was so i can't even take a shortcut from here to there… ” sans said as he tilted his head to look at the ground next to him, the distinct sound of phalanges clicking against cervical vertebra clued Papyrus in on the fact that sans was scratching at his neck.

“HMM...THAT _IS_ A SET BACK… ” Papyrus said putting one of his hands on his ilium while bringing the other up to scratch at his mandible. “WELL THAT JUST MEANS WE HAVE TO EXPAND OUR SEARCH AREA! BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO SEARCH FOR IT RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT ANYWAY! I PERSONALLY CAN NOT SEE IN THE DARK SO WE ARE GOING TO LOOK FOR IT WHEN THERE IS LIGHT FOR ME TO SEE WITH!”

“b-but papyrus-” “ _NO BUTTS SANS!_ THAT PHOTO WAS A GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP FROM OUR NEW HUMAN FRIEND AND WE WILL LOOK FOR IT UNTIL WE FIND IT EVEN IF IT TAKES ALL DAY! ” Papyrus stated before picking sans up and walking in the direction of sans’ bed.

“IN THE MEANTIME YOU SHOULD RETURN TO YOUR NIGHT NAP! GUESSING FROM HOW YOU SHOWED UP AFTER THAT ERRAND YOU WILL NEED THE EXTR- _OOF!_ ” Papyrus had once again misjudged how close he was and tripped himself on the edge of sans’ bed, causing him to land face first into sans’ pillow with sans raised protectively out of the way above him.

“uuuh….you ok bro?”

“AHM AHLWIGHT…” he said muffledly through the pillow before turning his head so he could be better understood “IS YOUR NEW ROOM SMALLER?! IT DOESN'T _LOOK_ SMALLER BUT THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I HAVE RUN INTO SOMETHING SINCE I WALKED IN! WHICH FOR YOU INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN A VERY LONG AMOUNT OF TIME! ”

Sans tried to stifle a laugh but, like in most situations where Papyrus was the source of amusement, he failed and started openly chuckling. Papyrus questioned what was so funny but sans just told him that he was the best, which was true but didn't actually answer the question.

After a small bit of banter Papyrus made his way over to the door and said good night to his brother again before heading to prepare for tomorrow's adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ What do you want from next chapter? ](https://strawpoll.com/b624b7hw)
> 
>  
> 
>  If you guys have any idea's on things you want to see happen {be it topics in the letters that you want brought up, mini adventures you want reader/the skelebros to go on, or possibly just cute fluffy things that you might want to see ewe} please just leave a comment!~


	11. Windows and Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get a new point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get out! Between my birthday and moving and other just general busyness I didn't have much time to write! And I know sans technically won the vote but I felt like I needed to write this chapter here or else I wouldn't get the opportunity to. 
> 
> Also, I was wondering about making a Tumblr page for this fic? If there are any delays I can post about it there and I can also get and organize suggestions better but I'm personally not sure if this fic is worth making a page for... but I'm also not really good at telling the worth of things so I'm gonna leave it up to you guys, there will be a poll in the end notes.
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS  
> Call to the void.  
> Accidental overdose

You stood against the wall with your arms resting on the sill of your open window as you stared blankly at the dark city you currently called home.

It was really late -probably about 1-2 am- and you were tired, but no matter what you had tried you couldn't sleep, something just didn't feel right about it. After much internal debate you had decided to see if you could get any solace from enjoying the view you had earned yourself so long ago. After several years of living there you knew the view well but the many bright streetlights of varying orange tones and the moving red or white of cars were still quite the sight.

You were tempted to grab your camera but you were too out of it to take a clear picture...and even if you could take a good shot you had a bunch of prints of the same scene filed away somewhere in your room anyway. There wasn't really a point in taking another photo of the same thing if you already had a bunch of copies of the same view.

The same view….the window was higher up because it was a 7th story window but the building was old enough that the window was bigger and could open. You’d never thought about it before but you could just get on a chair and see straight down the side of the building. That…. That would be a cool view at night wouldn't it.

You hop towards the kitchen but you have to catch yourself on the wall in order to not fall on your face. Was that a head rush? No you hadn't felt lightheaded so it couldn't have been that. All your head felt like was the normal fuzzy you got from your pills, weird.

You tried to hop over to the kitchen again and this time all goes as planned; you must have just lost your balance earlier. You grab one of the chairs and use it as a makeshift walker to get back to the window. After positioning the chair just right you finagle your way onto it and take a look out the window.

Oh wow. It's amazing what just a slight change in perspective can show someone. You can actually see the shorter shops and buildings like this and you can also see the silhouette of some cars driving down roads instead of just blips of head and tail lights. You lean forward a little bit and look down the building.

Oh shit you're high up...but for some reason you weren’t scared.

There's nothing but calmness in your mind as you stare down the 80 some odd feet to the sidewalk below. You were so calm you could probably just fall out the window and still feel fine… if you did fall out the window would anyone care? You were sure Uncle and the Ramirez’s would be pretty devastated but they didn't really know you well enough for it to last too long. No one at work would miss you that's for sure. Would your family be called if that happened? Heh, the better question there would be if any of them would be coherent enough to pick up the fucking phone.

You start feeling a little sluggish so you absentmindedly slump down onto the sill and let your arms hang limply over the shear drop. You could fall to your death right now and your _blood relatives_ might not even find out about it until some cop or coroner walks up to their door with your death certificate. The people who _literally fucking hate you_ will be aware of you death before the people who raised you, god that's fucked up.

….would...would saps care? They obviously wouldn't know that you died but would they worry about you not replying? You weren't sure if your new letter had arrived yet or if they were even going to reply to it but they...they had read so much crap about you from your co-workers but had still taken the time to look up your job and the area you lived before writing you a letter entirely in a ridiculous font and drawing those amazing pictures on the envelope. They wouldn't have done that if they didn't think it was worth the effort right?

They did all that because...they thought _you_ were worth the effort? They didn't even know you but they gave you a chance to prove you were more than some nasty comments on the internet. You weren't really sure what you were worth but they gave you the chance to find out and you were going to try your damnedest to be worth the effort they're putting into their letters. You didn't know them either though but if all goes well with this pen pal thing you'll know each other well enough before long.

Wait was that just a loud noise from inside your apartment? You wanted to turn around and look but your body felt so heavy that you didn't want to move more than you wanted to check. Thumping noises were heading your way and before you knew it you were being pulled from the window by your hips. Next second you were on the floor next to a pajama clad Uncle who was breathing really heavy.

“What the _fuck_ were yeh thinking?! I know yeh haven't been taking the cabin fever well but don't ya do somethin like that again, ok? Anythin yer having problems wit we can just talk um out yeh hear? There no reason to make rash decisions like that…” he put a hand over his eyes, “ god if Murphy hadn’ta been riding 'round this late… I wouldn't know what I’d done wit myself…”

What? Wait did he think you were actually going to jump out the window?! You had been thinking about it but you would never actually do something like that! It was just that whispering void thingy, shit what was that called again? Fuck it, it didn't matter right now!

“ No, no, i wouldn't do that! I was just getting a different view from my window I wasn't gonna jump man.” you said and Uncle took his hand away from his face and stared at you with an unreadable expression.

“I’m serious! I would never do that! I worked too hard to get where I am to pull something like that.” you said again and Uncle sat up with nothing but concern plastered on his face.

“Y-yer not makin too much sense pal.” he said shakily as he stared at you.

“What do you mean I’m not making sense? You’re the one not making sense here.” you tried to sit up yourself but it’s a lot harder than it should be to for some reason so you decided that the floor was fine for now. Uncle's face dropped as he seemed to realize something and he quickly helped you sit up and leaned you against the wall.

“How many did yeh take? How many of yer pills did yeh take?” he said frantically as he started checking vital signs like your eyes and breathing. “I only take one. I always only take one. What's that matter? ”

“Bud where do yeh keep yer pills?!” he said with an urgency you hadn't heard from him before.

“I can't tell you. They're controlled I can’t-” “ _Where do yeh keep yer pills?!_ ” Uncle near yelled and you were startled; you’d never heard him even come close to yelling before. You _REALLY_ didn't like yelling so you slowly and shakily pointed at the couch.

“Under the middle cushion.” you said and Uncle shot up, dashed over to you couch, and started digging under the cushions. When he found your pill bottle he quickly read over the label and then dumped the contents of it into his hand, counting them as quickly as he could manage. He seemed to recount them a few more times before he put the pills back and came over to check your vitals again with you weakly trying to fend off his prodding. After a sufficient amount of fretting a look of relief showed on Uncle's face.

“Christ kid, are ya trying to give this old man a heart attack?” he said more calmly as he fell over onto the floor next to you. Was he ok? He was joking about the heart attack right? You really weren't certain.

“I’m sorry. I don't know what I did but I'm sorry. Please don't have a heart attack I don't want you to die.” you said as you felt your eyes sting with the threat of tears; the fuzzy feeling in your head making you not as in control of your emotions as you usually were.

“Don't worry pal ’m not plannin on kickin the bucket anytime soon” Uncle chuckled weakly before reaching up to pat you on the shoulder. “ jus...jus’ don't scare me like that again ok? ‘m too old for these kinda spooks.”

“I’m sorry I’ll try not to, but what did I do? I wasn't that far out the window was I? And why were you checking my vitals? I’m not injured ...well other then my leg but that's basically healed now.” you question feeling really guilty for scaring Uncle but also really confused.

“Yeh tripled up on yer pain meds. Yeh probably forgot yeh already took one, took another, ‘n then forgot yeh took that one. Yeh take a low dose so it could’a been ‘lot worse but fur now yer just pretty high an’ not thinkin right… I’d honestly be surprised if yeh remember any’a this by sun rise.” he said as he adjusted himself to be leaning against the wall like you were.

“ Yer not of right mind so 'm gonna be here fur the rest’a the night at the least.” he stated and you open your mouth to protest but Uncle cuts you off, “ I get that ye don't like being helped out cuz ye feel like yeh can do it yerself but right now there’s no ifs ands or buts about this and there will be no arguin with me. It might only be two more pills but I don't know yer tolerance or how long ago yeh took ‘um so I need to be here in case yeh start reactin' bad or try tuh do sumthin stupid again.”

Even though he was very adamant about you not arguing you still tried to think up a rebuttal, and much to your disappointment you couldn't think of anything decent. You caved and agreed to him staying over and Uncle gave a satisfied nod. After a slight pause he got up to go close the door he had burst through - it had been unlocked- and after he comes back he pulls out a cell phone from his pajama pants and dials a number.

“ ‘ey Murphy…. Yeah I got to ‘um in time, turns out they didn't even realize how close they were tuh fallin out the window. ... They accidentally tripled up on the pain med they take fur their leg so they're pretty out of it right now. … I can kinda understand what they're sayin but they at least can tell what I’m sayin and aren't showin any major signs of overdose. ‘m gonna stay ‘ere fur the rest’a the night anyway just in case though. … they only got ‘bout a week left and they're not gonna get any more after that. They're also stubborn enough that when I explain what happened tomorrow ‘m sure they'll flat out try to cold turkey. … they ain't much for the risk of gettin addicted tuh things which is understandable given what little they told me ‘bout their folks…. Ahkay, Thanks Murphy. ... I’ll be sure tuh tell ‘um when they're coherent, talk tuh ye later.” Uncle hung up the phone and was about to go do something but you stopped him.

“ Who the fuck is Murphy? ” you questioned, sounding more angry then you had meant but not any less the you felt. He just told some random person you didn't know that you had pain meds and you were not about to get your house ransacked while you were hopping around more than a kid on a pogo stick.

“ Yeh know, Murphy’s law?. ..oh wait I never introduced yeh two... I haven't even used her nickname when talkin ‘bout her have I? Shoot, sorry. She’s one’a my ol' pals from back in the day that I tell yeh ‘bout. She was ridin ‘round the area an saw yeh hanging out the window. I’ve told her about yeh so when she realized who it was she called me and had me run over an’ get ya.” he explained as he went to your kitchen and started rifling through the cupboards by the sink, probably for a cup because that’s about where you kept them.

“She was just worried ‘bout yeh and she’s as trustworthy as they come so yeh don't have to worry about her blabbin nothing to no one.” he reassured as he finally found a cup and started filling it with water.

“ If you say so…” you replied skeptically even though you did trust Uncle. It just hadn't been all that long ago that he had asked you to call the cops if he didn't return from meeting up with a few people from his old gang, so you felt your skepticism about his ‘old pals’ was warranted.

Uncle walked back over with a full cup of water and offered you the cup. You take it and look at it questioningly before glancing up at Uncle with a confused look. What was he giving you a glass of water for?

“ Yeh need tuh drink a lot’a water to help flush the meds from yer system.” he explained as he leaned against wall and looked at you expectantly. Your head was fuzzy and all but you weren't out of it enough not to notice how much he knew about the situation. You wanted to ask but now probably wasn't the time to so you'd have to ask him later...if you remembered any of this later.

You stared into the water for a moment before taking a drink, quickly realizing you were pretty thirsty and downing the whole cup. Uncle looked a little concerned but took the cup, refilled it, and gave it back to you anyway. You drink the next cup slower and after you had drinken 3 cups of water Uncle helped you move to the couch.

After you were situated you tried best to stay awake but you had already been so tired that you all but passed out. You remember Uncle waking you up a few times to check that you were still alive and giving you more water but other then that you slept like a damn log.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Should I make a Tumblr page for this? ](https://strawpoll.com/47b4p7b7)


	12. Hiatus Announcement

I didn't want to do this but I'm going to have to put Pun Pals on hiatus for a little while.

I really wanted to keep this on a fairly consistent schedule but I've been so busy it's hard to find time to write and my grandfather who was like another parent to me just passed and I lost all of my motivation. I care about this story a lot -it's the first one I've ever gotten father then a few chapters in- but I just need some time to recuperate after this. I did start setting up the Tumblr page though, and will be linking it in the authors notes; maybe I'll do some Q&A things during this brake if you guys would be interested in that? Be warned though I didn't get very far at all and the page looks extremely default. 

  
I will be back on the story as soon as I feel up to it and have more time but until then I hope you guys understand.  


Sincerely,   
Terran

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ The promised Tumblr link. ](https://punpalsblog.tumblr.com/)


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